$200 September Blogger Appreciation Giveaway 2014

Welcome to the $200 September Blogger Appreciation Giveaway

hosted by Mother Daughter Book Reviews.

   

* Giveaway Details *

 

Prize: One winner will receive a $200 Amazon gift card or a PayPal cash prize (winner's choice) Contest Ends: September 30, 11:59 pm, 2014  

Open: Internationally  

How to enter: Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.  

Terms and Conditions: NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. The winner will be randomly drawn through the Rafflecopter widget and will be contacted by email within 48 hours after the giveaway ends. The winner will then have 72 hours to respond. If a winner does not respond within 72 hours, a new draw will take place for a new winner. Odds of winning will vary depending on the number of eligible entries received. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. This giveaway is sponsored, hosted and managed by Renee from Mother Daughter Book Reviews. If you have any additional questions - feel free to send and email to Renee(at)MotherDaughterBookReviews(dot)com. a Rafflecopter giveaway

Jack Templar, Monster Hunter (1) by Jeff Gunhus (review)

 

The Templar Chronicles: Jack Templar, Monster Hunter (1)

by Jeff Gunhus

Genre(s) Young Adult, Paranormal, Adventure

Pages: 197

Published: Oct 2012

Publisher: Seven Guns Press

 

 

 

Summary:  "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."

 

 

 

 Review:  Quite the introduction to a new series. I can saw up front that this series is very engaging and entertaining. The book has me amused from the very beginning with Jack's warning to all readers. So you easily feel like a part of the story.

Stacking the Shelves 59

 

Quick, Quick!!  I will likely not be showing all my new lovelies to you.  For some reason my weeks if off and I thought today was Thursday!  So I look to the date and realize it is late Friday night.  I have  a super busy weekend with help running a Festival this weekend. So I have to get up in about 6 hours from when I am making this.  So here are a few (out of many) of my new books.  Expect a large haul post next week!

 

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (review)

 

Attachments

by Rainbow Rowell

Genre(s): Chick-Lit, Contemporary

Pages: 327

Published: April 2011

Publisher: Penguin Group

Summary:  ""Hi, I'm the guy who reads your e-mail, and also, I love you ..."

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It's company policy.) But they can't quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O'Neill can't believe this is his job now- reading other people's e-mail. When he applied to be "internet security officer," he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth's and Jennifer's messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can't help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he's falling for Beth, it's way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say ...?"

Review:  I am very mixed about this book. Overall, I enjoyed it. The pace was mostly very well down, the writing was clear and the story was entertaining. Yet it has some negatives as well that kept me from fully ever being engaged with the novel.

This book takes place from two very different perspectives. The first is from Lincoln(Linc). About 65% (guesstimate) of the book we travel alongside him. He is an IT/security man for a newspaper. Late twenties, several degrees under his belt, very smart, and still living with mom. Right away I can see how socially awkward he is. Certain things with him just don't seem to 'click' on a relational or emotional level. Yet I could not help but like him.

Midnight Secretary Vol 3 by Tomu Ohmi (review)

 

 

Midnight Secretary Volume 3

 

by Tomu Ohmi

 

Genres: Graphic Novels, Manga

Pages: 200

Published: Jan 2014

Publisher: Viz Media

Summary:  "Kaya thought she had found the perfect job when she became the private secretary of Kyouhei Touma - the director of a tableware company of the same name. Kyouhei is a capable director, but his arrogance and sluttish behavior are almost legendary. Kaya is doing her best to prove that she is capable in her work, but one night, by accident, she discovers his secret... of him being a vampire!

Kaya has been temporarily reassigned to another company, but she won’t let that keep her from her lover, Kyohei. She’s appointed herself as his special secretary, and she spends each night at his condo helping him work and quenching his thirst for her delicious blood. Love suits Kaya, but trouble looms now that she’s caught the eye of her other boss!"

 

 

 

Review:  Finally! Relational progress is made! We finally get a really good glimpse at the inner Kyouhei in this volume.

I'm participating! Tackle Your TBR Read-a-thon

 

Tressa @ Wishful Endings has created a fantastic read-a-thon for the upcoming month!

 

This begins on September 8th and ends on the 20th.  She have challenges and giveaways planned out and I hope it is a lot of fun.

 

My goals:

I do not know what I will be reading during that time (except Dorothy Must Die for a reading group) but my goal will be to read at least 8 books and/or 2000 pages.  Books will likely be a mix of graphic novels and regular novels. 

To join this challenge, simply click the link above.  I will post once again when it it time to begin. 

Killer Within by Jeff Gunhus (review)

 

Killer Within

by Jeff Gunhus

Genre(s) Thriller, Suspense

Pages: 328

Published: March 2014

Publisher: Seven Guns Press

Summary: "Arnie Milhouse is a murderer. A millionaire with dozens of kills in his past and no one the wiser. But when his name surfaces in connection with the death of a D.C. call girl, Arnie knows it’s only a matter of time before the FBI puts the pieces together. As he makes plans to disappear and leave his life in Annapolis behind forever, he meets a beautiful, mysterious woman who takes an interest in him. The perfect final victim. He can’t believe his luck.

Only luck has nothing to do with it.

Allison McNeil has returned to Annapolis, a city that she promised herself she would never come back to, not while the cruel memories of her time at the United States Naval Academy still haunt her. But she’s willing to do just about anything to get close to Arnie, even if it means having to face down the demons of her past. Her plans work and soon she and Arnie find themselves locked in a dangerous dance of seduction and betrayal. But Arnie isn’t the only one who carries a secret and the dark truth about Allison McNeil makes a final confrontation between them inevitable. Neither of them know it, but they're on a collision course that only one of them will survive."

Review: A most enjoyable thriller. I always enjoy a good cat and mouse chase and in this novel I get it double time. Two vastly different characters are both predator and prey each in their own right. The question is, who will win?

#BoutofBooks Wrap-Up

 

Day 7:

I finished

 

 

I made Progress in:

 

#Boutofbooks, End of Day 6

 

Yard Sale chaos ruled my day.  And no sleep the night before did not help.  Okay, 1 day left!  We can do this!!!!

I made Progress in:

 

Pages Read: 72

ArcAugust End of Week 3

 

Not the greatest week by far.  I really did not get to read much.  I finished only 1 book and made progress others.

Book I finished

 

Pages Read: 420

 

Made Progress In:

 

Stacking the Shelves 58

 

Okay, so another busy week but not as bad as the past two weeks.  Although it may look that week.  To those that way the monstrous post for last weeks haul might remember that I did not post all the books.  It was after 4 am Saturday morning and I needed sleep.  Plus it was LONG.  So I have another 10 books or so from last week, in addition to this weeks new books to share with you  A lot of these were amazon freebies so I went a bit over board.  But as long as I read and review them eventually it is all good, right?

 

#Boutofbooks Update -End of Day 5.

 

Don't you just hate the days you are running around with errands, tasks, etc that you can't find 20 minutes to just relax in a day?  That is how the last 2 have been.  Lucky for my habits of keeping books everywhere I was able to do a bit of reading.  I am hoping for better this weekend.  After all, it is the last 2 days.  Gotta go out with a BANG!

 

I made Progress in:

 

Total Pages Read today: 45

 

Read-a-thon totals

Books Completed:1

Books I made Progress in: 3

Total Pages Read:775

For challenge goals or books I might read see Goal Post.

 

Book Blast and Giveaway -Finding Fuzzy by Cat Michaels

   

Title: Finding Fuzzy: A "You-Decide Tale" of a Lost Friend (Sweet T Tales) 

 Author: Cat Michaels 

Illustrator: Irene A. Jahns 

Publication Date: March 26, 2014 

Publisher: 2101 Ink | Pages: 44 

Recommended Ages: 5 to 10  

Reviewed by: Renee (Mother)  

Summary: Illustrated chapter book for early readers (Gr. K-3) Blue sky ... Warm sea ... Sugar-sand beach ... The perfect family vacation on the Carolina coast ... Except the trip takes a nosedive when Jenna loses Fuzzy, her plush blue rabbit pal. Jenna learns to carry on without him. But when she stumbles across a secret, she faces the toughest decision of her young life. And YOU, the reader, will help her make that choice and come up with the ending of this You-Decide tale. Don't worry. Cat shows you how in her book and on her website. So, slip on your flip-flops and join Jenna at the shore. It's time to decide YOUR ending for Finding Fuzzy. Caution: Irene A. Jahn's ocean-themed watercolors have been known to cause beach fever.

"Finding Fuzzy" placed second in the Purple Dragonfly Writing contest, a national contest for children's book authors, in the category of chapter books.

 

 

Book Blast and Giveaway for Karmack by J.C. Whyte

Title: Karmack 

Author: J.C. Whyte 

Publication Date: June 6, 2013 

Publisher: Muse it Up Publishing 

Pages: 140 

Recommended Age: 7+

Summary: A strange little creature enters the lives of three tough guys at Higgins Elementary. And from that point on, pranks come back like boomerangs, smacking the bullies right in their fifth grade butts! Sully, the leader of the gang, is the only one who can see this creature, which he names Karmack. Sully learns that the creature’s job is to balance all the bad pranks the bullies have pulled over the years. Karmack warns that if this fails, “dreadful, awful doom” awaits them all. Sully soon realizes that he must save not only himself but his friends, who have no idea why they keep getting boomeranged by Karmack!

"Karmack" won First Place in the 2014 Purple Dragonfly Writing contest, a national contest for children's book authors, in the category of chapter books (e-Books).

#Boutofbooks -End of Day 4 Update

 

Another slow reading day today.  We are now on the downhill slope.  Tomorrow is another busy day for me and this weekend I am running a yard sale, but can hopefully get some good reading in during the slower runs in the afternoon.

 

I made Progress in:

Crimson Spell Vol 1

 

Crimson Spell Volume 1

 

by Ayano Yamane

 

Genre: Graphic Novel, 18+, Yaoi-M/M

Pages 192

Published: Dec 2013 (Original date Jan 2005)

Publisher:  Viz Media

 

 

Summary: "The curse of the magical crimson sword has turned Prince Bald into a monster... To break the spell, he sets out on a journey with the sexy and gorgeous magician, Havi. Bald has no idea that when he turns into a beast at night, Havi uses his unique talents to pacify his beastly appetite... The luscious journey of Bald and Havi begins."

 

 

 

 Review:  This was okay. Okay, lets be honest, if not for the lovely artwork this would have been 2 stars...

#BoutofBooks -End of Day 3

 

Slow reading day today.  But I did participate in the Twitter chat today.

 

I made Progress in:

 

Total Pages Read today: 66