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YAY!

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SEA BLUE PEOPLE WIN MYSTERY BOOKS CONTEST at Heidi R. Kling's blog.

Author Heidi R. Kling is giving away a book a week until the release of SEA, 9 weeks from today.
This is open Internationally (YAY!) and you can win a different, awesome book every week!
But you won't know what that book is until the contest is over. So if you win, it'll be a surprise!
Enter here.
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HOLY MOTHER! I TURN ONE TODAY!!!

TODAY is my first blogiversary and I just remembered!
LOL
I don't have anything prepared, which is why I'll do something for this coming week.
I'm still broke, so don't expect anything big.
If you're and author/publisher and would like to donate something, I would love you forever and ever.
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In My Mailbox #5


Fifteen-year-old Tilly, Fran, Marlee and Pink are surfer girls.

They have been meeting for the first surf of the season every year since they first met at the surf school run by Tilly’s dad, Phil, when they were eight.

Phil has big plans for the surf school this year, but when he is injured in a hit-and-run accident, everything suddenly seems uncertain.

While Phil languishes in hospital and the police track his attacker, Tilly is determined to realise his plans and keep the surf school open. To do this, she needs all the help she can get from her friends.

But Marlee is training for the surfing competition to win a new board and beat the moody Kyle, Pink is warring with her parents and intrigued by the stranger Kim, and Fran is busy making jewellery.

Laurine Croasdale has published three fiction titles for UQP (Trivia Man, Red Golf Balls, What Truly Counts), and a range of non-fiction titles (including two for Macmillan Education).

She was also a writer on Hi 5 for Channel 9. She reviews books regularly on radio, and spent five years reviewing children’s and adults’ titles on Angela Catterns’ breakfast show on ABC radio.

Laurine had the idea for Surf School many years ago but felt that its popularity had not yet reached its peak.

The story weaves together her childhood on the northern beaches with her daughter’s experiences growing up today.


Summary:

Winter swells are rolling into Diamond Beach. But surfer girls Fran, Pink, Marlee and Tilly are still consumed by all things surfing.

Fran and Pink are collaborating on a surf label, and there’s news of a major surfing contest at treacherous Shipwreck Beach — a chance for Marlee and Tilly to dazzle on the world stage.

But parents and boyfriends are distracting the girls from their big plans.

Pink’s mother Christie is determined to control her spirited daughter; Marlee tells Kyle she has to concentrate on her surfing; and Jamie still can’t see that Tilly is anything more than just a friend.

The absorbing, dramatic sequel to Surf School.

Remember you can win both Surf books here! This contest is open internationally, and I'd love it if you could tweet or tell your friends about it!

I also got Zan-Gah: A Prehistoric Adventure, and Zan-Gah and the Beautiful Country, by Allan Richard Shickman, but couldn't find pics to show you the covers.
I see a lot of bloggers got these books too, and I'd love to hear what they've got to say about them.
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Pick your publisher contest!


Generally, I don't post about giveaways, but this one is too good to let it pass.
The Undercover Book Lover is holding a giveaway in which you can choose a pack from the publisher you want!
And it's INTERNATIONAL!
They all seem great, but I'll have to choose the HarperTeen one, because of Forgive My Fins.

The giveaway is open until April 22nd.

Enter now for a chance to win one of these awesome packs!
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Beautiful Creatures (Caster Chronicles, #1), by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Summary (from BeautifulCreaturestheBook.com):

Some loves are meant to be…
others are cursed.

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.
At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
There was a curse. There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.


My Opinion:

WOW. Just WOW. Do I need to elaborate?

I'm not sure there are enough words to explain just how wow-worthy this book is, but I'll try.

Know that I do not like to post two posts on the same day (this being a Waiting on Wednesday), but I'm making an exception here.

(FYI, this is going to be a review full of fangirlying)

I do need to say this, and I apologise in advance:

OH MY FREAKIN' GOD!
(In a Southern accent)
KAMI AND MARGIE, YOU ARE TRULY WRITING GODDESSES!
I LOVE BOTH OF YOU!
THANK YOU FOR HAVING WRITTEN THIS BOOK!

There, I needed to get it out of my system. On to the review.

This book is the longest I've read in a while, but I wish it would've kept on going, I didn't want it to end.

There were no surprises in Gatlin County.

Everything's been the same in old Gatlin for as long as Ethan can remember. He's gone to school with the same people every year, he's played with his best friend every day since he was little, he knows who's gonna win the election for Snow -I mean, Ice- Queen every time.
He always knows how the movie's gonna end.

At least, that’s what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

A nightmare haunts Ethan's nights. One where he's not alone. There's a girl with him, but he can't see her face, he can just smell her. She smells of lemons and rosemary. And they're falling, never able to come too close. She slips away from his grasp every time. Even his dreams never change. He's had this nightmare for months now.
But to Ethan's surprise, along comes a girl ready to turn his world upside down.

There was a curse. There was a girl.

That girl is Lena Duchannes. Dressed in all black, Ethan first sees her in the school's halls. And he's mesmerized by her immediately.
And when he goes looking for her, it hits him. The girl from his dreams -more like his nightmares- is here. She's real, and he can't believe she's so close to him, when in his dreams, they fell more and more apart.

But Lena's an outsider, she's seen as an intruder, and to top it all, she's the town's crazy shut-in's niece. Ethan doesn't care about this, about any of it, because she's the one he's been dreaming of all this time. And he has to know her. Even if that can kill him.


And in the end, there was a grave.

Ethan and Lena become fast friends, a friendship that'll later blossom into love. But she could leave him anytime, because the curse upon her is a very old, very powerful one. He tries to help her find the loopholes in this curse, but the closer they get, the worse it is.

Secrets and lies and spells and voodoo intertwine and it is up to Ethan to help Lena survive.


I loved everything about this book, I wouldn't change a single thing. Margie and Kami do a great job describing the town and its people. Their sacred traditions, and the rolls every one of them plays in their lives.

I think Amma was my favourite character; being Ethan's only parent (his mum died, and his dad is locked up in his study) she's taken upon herself the job to raise him well. But of course, like everything in this book, there's more to her than you would know.

I also liked how well characterised Ethan was. And Lena. And Uncle Macon. And Marian. Everyone, really.

Everything was there and done for a reason. Everything had a purpose.

I felt like Ethan a little, because I was able to guess some parts of the ending -in this case- of the book. Whenever this happens, I feel a little proud of myself. :D

And Oh. My. God, the kissing scenes! Ahhh! I just died a little every time I read them, I LOVED their description of how it felt like, it made me feel butterflies in my stomach.

The twists and turns this novel took were more and more exciting. I kept on reading until my eyes were closing at 3 a.m. It only took me three days to read this, that's how good it is and how much I loved it. Only a good book can keep me up at night.

And now, for the Monkey Rating, because I loved this book so much: 6 Monkeys!
(Please note that the highest rating is of 5 monkeys. Yep.)

I never reviewed Harry Potter because I read it before having started this blog, but I'd give it this rating too. I am a die hard HP fan, and now, a BC fan too. Can't wait until Beautiful Darkness, and, I have to say, I guessed its title right the first time Kami and Margie asked us what we thought it'd be.

Because there's something you don't know. I'm a Caster Girl too.
And I'll even tell you what I am. I am a Sybil, a face reader. So be careful when you're around me if you don't want me finding out your dirty secrets!


Link(s): Ha ;)
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