The Bookworm: Book Blast & Giveaway - arbitrate by Megan Thomason

arbitrate:

It’s one year later. And everything has changed.

Remember The Second Chance Institute (SCI). Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. They’ve stepped up their game on Earth and on Thera—infiltrating political parties, preying on the downtrodden, and planning offensive maneuvers. The SCI’s abuse of their charter leads to Arbiter oversight and bitter consequences.

Remember Kira Donovan. Broken, burdened, and evading those who wish her harm, Kira enlists the Arbiters’ help when forced to return to the clutches of the SCI and her angry, estranged love.

Remember Blake Sundry. Exiled, determined, and packing an agenda, Blake seeks assistance on Earth and Thera to use his newfound knowledge to bring down the SCI.

Remember Ethan Darcton. Overworked, emotional, and holding a grudge, Ethan hunts down his stolen property, but finds himself in awkward territory, stuck between the Arbiters and the SCI.

Full of action, competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, arbitrate is Megan Thomason’s third installment in the award-winning daynight series after daynight and clean slate complex (a daynight story).

 

Amazon

Praise for arbitrate:

“There are a lot of books I finish and feel happy, this one I finished and my head is swirling, in a totally awesome way! Not only does it have a great story with characters that you like (and some you just hate as they are the enemy) but the book also gets you thinking, thinking about the implication of effects of different actions and courses in life. This story has action, fighting, plots and plans, romance, love triangles, family, betrayal – has it all.” –Emily Barton, Emmy Mom One Day at a Time blog, 5 stars

“You have hit this one out of the park.” –ARC Reviewer

“For the record, I LOVED Kira’s choice!! And the whole thing just blew me away! Very, very well done!! Now when can I get my hands on generate?! Can’t wait ” –ARC Reviewer

“Read my ARC of Arbitrate and consider my mind blown! I started it the minute it was sent and couldn’t put it down.” –ARC Reviewer

 

daynight

Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth's benevolent non-profit by day, Thera's totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance at Life(TM). Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving--forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.  

Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.  

Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother's death, Blake's been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner--Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.  

Meet Ethan Darcton. Born with a defective heart and resulting inferiority complex, Ethan's forced to do his SCI elite family's bidding. Cleave-worthy Kira Donovan catches his eye, but the presiding powers give defect-free Blake Sundry first dibs.  

Full of competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, daynight is an award-winning, bestselling novel and first in the daynight series.

Download a FREE copy of daynight

Available for FREE on Amazon

October 29th, 30th & 31st

Praise for daynight: 2012 Book of the Year Award Finalist-Young Adult Fiction, ForeWord Reviews "Sure to win over YA readers looking for a dangerous, dystopian adventure story" —Kirkus Reviews "Gripping young adult dystopian novel; compelling conflicts; high stakes; powerful narrative; surprises keep coming; strong writing; page-turner; engaging characters; Readers will be hungry for the sequels.”—BlueInk Review (starred review) "Thomason's description of Thera's totalitarianism will make fans of Brave New World shiver... SCI, her fantasy corporation, has disturbing parallels to actual companies and regimes that claim to do good while harming people... The author deftly appeals to both romance-loving teens as well as those intrigued by young adults fighting the establishment.”—ForeWord Clarion Review, 4 stars      


arbitrate 

Excerpt: “I’m angry at all of them. Every SCI leader. In fact Joshua gave me a list of those who are Earth-side. It makes for a great to-do list.” They all deserve to pay. I’m done talking. It’s time for some action. One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three. That’s all it takes to even out my breathing and steady my hand. I shift the crosshairs on my target ever so slightly—from his heart to his hand—and pull the trigger. My father would be proud that all his training paid off. Oh, who am I kidding? He’d find something to criticize about my work here. Sad that even though he’s gone I can hear him saying, “If you’d hit a little to the left you’d have taken out a higher concentration of nerves.”

Tour Schedule

Author Megan Thomason

Bestselling, award-winning author Megan Thomason lives in paradise aka San Diego, CA with her husband and five children. A former software manager, Megan vastly prefers writing twisted tales to business, product, and marketing plans. When she isn't typing away on her laptop, she's reading books on her phone--over 600 in the last year--or attending to the needs of her family. Megan's fluent in sarcasm, could potentially benefit from a 12-step program for road rage, struggles with a Hot Tamales addiction, loves world travel & fast cars and hates paperwork & being an insomniac.

Website * Facebook * Goodreads * Twitter

   

BookBlast Giveaway

$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash

Ends 11/18/13

Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer http://iamareader.com and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


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The Bookworm: Book Blast & Giveaway - Jack Templar and the Lord of the Vampires by Jeff Gunhus

 

Tour Schedule

Jack Templar and the Lord of the Vampires

Jack is back. After his adventures at the Monster Hunter Academy (which included fighting a goblin army, befriending an ancient werewolf, and battling two fire breathing dragons), Jack Templar was hoping for a rest. No such luck. In Book #3 of the Jack Templar Monster Hunter series, Jack embarks on a quest to track down and acquire the first of the five mythical Jerusalem Stones, an ancient power found by his ancestors the Templar Knights. Only the reunited Stones can stop Ren Lucre, the Dark Lord who holds Jack’s father hostage and prepares for an all-out war against an unsuspecting human world. But each Stone is held by a different Creach Lord and recovering them will not be easy. Jack and his friends begin their quest by seeking out one of the most powerful and dangerous keepers of the Stones, the Lord of the Vampires. The fate of the world rests on Jack’s shoulders and he will be tested like never before. But true monster hunters always do their duty…come what may. Jack Templar and the Lord of the Vampires.

Amazon

Jack Templar and the Monster Hunter Academy (Book 2)

After barely surviving the onslaught of monsters that tried to kill him the day before his fourteenth birthday, Jack Templar leaves his hometown on a quest to rescue his father and discover the truth about his past. Joined by his friends Will and T-Rex, and led by Eva, the mysterious one-handed monster hunter, Jack sets out for the Monster Hunter Academy where he hopes to find answers to his questions. Little does he suspect that the Academy is filled with dangers of its own, many of them more terrifying than anything he’s faced so far.

  Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Jack Templar: Monster Hunter (Book 1)

Orphan Jack Templar has no memory of his parents and only the smallest details from his Aunt Sophie about how they died. The day before Jack's fourteenth birthday, things start to change for him. At first it's great: A sudden new strength helps him defend his nose-picking friend "T-Rex" from the school bully, and even his crush, Cindy Adams, takes notice. But then a mysterious girl named Eva arrives and tells him two facts that will change his life forever. First, that he's the descendent of a long line of monster hunters and he's destined to be in the family business. Second, that there's a truce between man and monster that children are off-limits...until their fourteenth birthday! Jack has only one day before hundreds of monsters will descend on his little town of Sunnyvale and try to kill him. As if that weren't enough, things get even more complicated when Jack discovers that the Lord of the Creach (as the monsters are collectively known) holds a personal grudge against him and will do anything to see that Jack has a slow and painful death. To stay alive and save his friends, Jack will have to battle werewolves, vampires, harpies, trolls, zombies and more. But perhaps the most dangerous thing he must face is the truth about his past. Why do the other hunters call him the last Templar? Why do they whisper that he may be the "One?" Why do the monsters want him dead so badly? Even as these questions plague him, he quickly discovers survival is his new full-time job and that in the world of monster hunters, nothing is really what it seems.

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

Jack Templar Monster Hunter was chosen as a Book of the Year Finalist by Foreword Reviews.

 

Author Jeff Gunhus

Jeff Gunhus grew up in Cyprus, Greece, and Saudi Arabia where there was a distinct lack of television. He quickly found books were the gateway to incredible adventures, fascinating characters and unbelievable discoveries. Now, with five children of his own (all who watch too much television, in his opinion), he has enjoyed revisiting his old books and reliving those adventures all over again.

BookBlast Giveaway
$50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash Ends 10/31/13  


Open only to those who can legally enter, receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Code or Paypal Cash. Winning Entry will be verified prior to prize being awarded. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 or older to enter or have your parent enter for you. The winner will be chosen by rafflecopter and announced here as well as emailed and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen. This giveaway is in no way associated with Facebook, Twitter, Rafflecopter or any other entity unless otherwise specified. The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Giveaway was organized by Kathy from I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and sponsored by the author. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.


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Must Go's: A Fun Sunday Outing with Cindy & Sarah

If you're free on the 6th of October 2013, why not spend it in a really cool way with great food and wonderful giveaways and other activities!

Bloggers Cindy and Sarah are hosting Fun Sunday Outing and are currently running another special giveaway on their respective blogs. 

Here are the goodies you can win!

1pc x Complimentary Dresses Seqoci worth up to RM 120

1set x Etude House goodies worth RM 150

1box x VanityTrove customized trove worth RM 50

1bottle x L’Oreal Professional Original Mythic Oil worth RM 75

A complimentary dining experience at Big Chomp with Cindy & Sarah 3 x Consolation Prizes

So hop over now and check it all out. Enter and RSVP for your spot!

Please click HERE to get more info on this great event!

Suitcases & Must Go's: The Phantom of the Opera, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Image source: Sistic Website

I was in Singapore last month for my cousin's wedding so I grabbed the chance to cross one thing off my bucket list. That is, to watch The Phantom of the Opera Musical by the one and only Andrew Lloyd Webber! It's been a dream of mine to watch this since studying the book in high school and watching the movie version that came out in 2004. And it was such a spectacular experience indeed.

I sat in the VIP section just a few rows from the stage so I got a really great view! Yay me! Hey, if it's a once in a lifetime opportunity, shouldn't you go for the very best? I think so anyway. Life is short, so savour it right!

I was enthralled by the splendid decor. Everything looked so magnificent and realistic. The curtain changes were fast and went by so smoothly it didn't affect the flow of the performance at all.

Even the curtains are pretty

A look at the opening number, can you spot the Chandelier in the piccie?

OH MY FREAKING GOSH! The chandelier was beyond words. I don't have a picture of it to show you sadly but it was breathtaking. And the most amazing part is if you sit in the VIP area, you become part of the performance, almost! The orchestra did such a great job hyping up the moment I even got goosebumps. It took a lot out of me just to keep myself in my seat, I was so excited.

Isn't the decor gorgeous?

And the costumes, oh dear, were so colourful and creative. Especially after Intermission, they continued with Masquerade and it was SO much better than in the movie. Every colour under the sky was utilized, it was such a sight to behold. No drabby black and white outfits here. There was so much to see it was like watching a tennis match. Left right, left right. Just trying to take in everything and burn it into my memory to relive on my own.

Look at that beauty! The details!

And I haven't even talked about the singing yet! With Brad Little at the helm, it really was quite stunning. He did a good job playing the famous, or should I say infamous, Phantom, although I felt he missed a few beats. But I think that is expected of a live performance and made everything more realistic. Claire Lyon was brilliant as Christine Daaé, capturing the essence of the character while instilling her own voice in the role. I loved her rich, deep voice as opposed to Sarah Brightman's high-pitched one. Anthony Downing was also great as Raoul, but of course, his part was significantly smaller. John O'May was absolutely HILARIOUS as Monsieur Firmin, making him one of my favourites from the performance. Andrea Creighton too was a master in her version of La Carlotta. I can't get over the part where she croaked.

There really is nothing like watching a performance live in front of your very eyes. The colours are so vibrant and the actors are bursting with life. And take my word for it when I say that the decorations alone are worth the ticket price, they were just so essential to the performance they blew my breath away.

I loved every minute of The Phantom of the Opera so much I wouldn't mind watching it again. And I even bought the Original Cast Musical CD to take home as a souvenir of this exhilarating experience I'll never forget. It's something for musical lovers as well as newbies alike. Even my father who knew nothing of the story enjoyed it so thoroughly he still hums the songs every day.

I'm so glad I got to live out a dream. And here's hoping they will return soon. Or at least perform in another country nearby. Count me in!

The Phantom of the Opera closes September 1, 2013 and is showing at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Grab your tickets before they're gone at the Sistic website. Prices start at S$55. 

The Bookworm: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

• Title: City of Bones
  
• Series: Mortal Instruments, Book 1
• Author: Cassandra Clare
• Format: Paperback 485 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Published: 01 March 2008
• Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy, YA, Paranormal
• ISBN 13: 9781416955078
• ISBN 10: 1416955070
• Source: Bought
• Buy:  The Book Depository|Amazon

Side Note: I've had this book for about a year but only decided to read it last month and review it now to coincide with the movie coming out this week. I can't wait! Will definitely be reviewing the movie as well. I hope it translates well in the movie. Also interested to see how they tackle some of the elements of this series. Read on to get a feel of what I'm talking about!


In an apple core (The Bookworm’s version of a nutshell)

A fast-paced page turner filled with action and suspense and lots of fantasy and mystery.
  
 
Summary

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder--much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing--not even a smear of blood--to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight?

The Shadowhunters would like to know. . . . Exotic and gritty, exhilarating and utterly gripping, Cassandra Clare's ferociously entertaining fantasy takes readers on a wild ride that they will never want to end.


My Thoughts

In this series, mundanes are to the Mortal Instruments series what mudbloods are to the Harry Potter world if you get what I mean. And in simple terms, the Shadowhunters are a society of monster hunters. Not the most unique idea but Cassandra has you on quite a thrill ride. I hadn't paid attention to the summary when I bought this book, going completely on the wise words of fellow book bloggers. I totally wasn't expecting City of Bones to be a paranormal story! There are vamps and werewolves aplenty thrown into the whole cool mix. And as with good vs evil stories, there is a great big baddie. But is he just a baddie, or something so much more?

I loved the use of the ancient runes, the cool tattoos on their bodies, having always been a fan of historical mysteries and myths. Runes are steeped in history and I love how Cassandra incorporated them into the Mortal Instruments series and made them visible and current. Also, the use of Tarot cards piqued my interest, a true mystery in itself.

City of Bones has some really cool twists and turns in it. It was as if Cassandra Clare thought of the craziest and most unusual idea when she came to a crossroad in the story, and you get the City of Bones. She really surprised me with her inclusion of a, wait for it, spoiler alert, lgbt element in this series. Not only that, but there is another big revelation in this book, which was actually quite unexpected for a first book. Just remember that the world is smaller than it seems and the answer will dawn on you as you go on this journey. I'm really interested to see how these elements translate into the movie, if touched upon at all. I say this as this is the first book out of five and I'm very sure for the lgbt element, the relationship will progress with the rest of the books.

The Mortal Instruments series is worth picking up and I look forward to the movie as well as the rest of the books

Give Cassandra Clare a Buzz

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The Book Depository * Amazon

WARNING: There are some adult themes in this book along with some violence. Parental guidance is advised.

Disclosure: I was not compensated financially or otherwise for this review. Everything mentioned are my own thoughts based on my experience.