Win a book!

ATTENTION: The rafflecopter isn't working for some of you. The required entry is to tell me something that made you smile down in the comments.

Hey everyone! I've decided to participate in a giveaway, and this is my favorite one.

There will be three winners, drawn randomly. The first I pick gets their choice of prizes and has 24 hours to respond after I announce the winner. The second will be contacted and has 48 hours to respond (24 hours after the first has claimed their prize) and the third will get whichever absolutely lovely book is left and has until the 31st to contact me.

Can you tell this is my first time doing a giveaway?

Anyway, the prizes:

(physical, paperback)

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.

I'm just misunderstood.
Of course, that's not how the judge saw it.
That's how I wound up at freaky Blackthorn Academy. Talk about boring. There isn't even a mall nearby. I mean, what did they expect a girl from Beverly Hills to do?
Also, from the start I could tell there was something really weird about Blackthorn:
The headmaster, Mr. Kim, knew way too much about me.
The class schedule features Intro to Code Theory and Microelectronics.
A whole section of the school is off-limits.
Then the FBI showed up ... and Mr. Kim disappeared.
Well, here's something Mr. Kim didn't know about me: Rachel Buchanan never gives up when there are secrets to uncover. Watch out, Blackthorn Academy.




And an e-copy (Kindle) of Incarnate! If you don't have a physical kindle, don't freak out. Go to amazon and they'll give you a download of Kindle for your iPod or Computer, completely free.

New soul
Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.
No soul
Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?
Heart
Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies--human and creature alike--let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?
Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

The rafflecopter:


a Rafflecopter giveaway



The linky:

I've been tagged--yay!

thanks to Jennifer at some lie it paranormal.

Rules:

1. You must post the rules.

2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create ten new questions to ask the people that you have tagged.

3. Tag six people and link to them on your post.

4. Let them know you’ve tagged them.

Your Questions

1. I like it paranormal! lol So tell me your favorite paranormal creature?

I'd have to say the siren. Unless Doctor Who counts, then it's a tie between the Time Lords and the Daleks.

2. Favorite books? I'm horrible with boundaries so feel free to list as many or few as you want!

Oh god, here we go. Favorites of all time: What Child is this by Caroline B. Cooney, and the Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

Favorite kids books: Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? by Eric Carl, Oh, the Places you'll go by Dr. Seuss, and the Ramona series by Beverley Cleary.  

Recent favorite books: Open Minds by Susan Quinn, Remembrance by Michelle Madow, and When Copper Suns fall by Kasonndra Leigh.

3. What book did you just finish reading?

 Paper Angels by Jimmy Wayne and Travis Thrasher.

4. Favorite book boyfriends?

 How can I even pick? I'd have to say either Matt or Tack from What Child is This; Andrew Carmichael from the Transcend Time saga, and Brett from the Spy Goddess series.

5. What book was the hardest for you to review and why?

 Paper Angels. Mostly because I didn't make any notes in it as I was reading, so the Spy Goddess series falls under that category too.

6. What books have made you cry?

 Any book that has an emotional passage. Honestly, I'm a crybaby when it comes to books.

7. What are your favorite parts of blogging? 

 Meeting other bloggers and authors, learning from them, and making my blog something that's mine.

8. The best book you have read that not many other people have read or heard of?

 Once again I'll have to refer to Caroline B. Cooney for "What Child is This?" I love that book. READ IT.

9. Where do most want to travel to?

 India. Or The island of the dolls. Or that one haunted place in russia where everyone evacuated because of radiation and all that's left is the children's belongings. Yep, Russia it is.

10. Do you have any pets?
 No. I used to, but I'm really bad at taking care of small animals and we gave away our dogs when we moved. I do, however, have a stray cat the wanders into our backyard every so often.


TAGGED:
T. P. Boje
The once and future librarian
The night bookmobile
Enna @ squeaky books
not just nonsense
natalie @ mindful musings



My questions:

1. Are you a reader or a writer?
2. What's your family like?
3. If you could live anywhere (real or fiction) where would it be?
4. Top five favorite books of all time?
5. What is your opinion of parody children's books? (i.e Pat the zombie, Go the F to sleep, etc.)
6. What song best fits the part of the book you're reading right now?
7. What's your favorite animal?
8. What is your favorite genre?
9. If you could only read books from one author for the rest of your life, who would it be?
10. Finally: As a topping for soft serve ice cream: caramel or chocolate?

Open Minds: Author Interview with Susan Kaye Quinn

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.



Susan Kaye Quinn grew up in California, where she wrote snippets of stories and passed them to her friends during class. Her teachers pretended not to notice and only confiscated her stories a couple times.

Susan left writing behind to pursue a bunch of engineering degrees, but she was drawn back to writing by an irresistible urge to share her stories with her niece, her kids, and all the wonderful friends she’s met along the way.

She doesn’t have to sneak her notes anymore, which is too bad.

Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as a much as she can handle.

1. How did you come up with the title?

Titles either come to me in a flash early in the process, or fight me every step of the way. This one was easy, being a spin on the telepathic nature of the world as well as its closed-mindedness.

2. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I firmly believe that everyone takes their own meaning from a story. But I also intentionally wove in strong themes about intolerance and its impact on individuals and society in general. Whatever the reader takes from the story, is what they’re needing to hear at that time. And I’m good with that. J

3. Can you share a little of your current work with us?

I’m working on Closed Hearts, Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy. I just sent the second draft off to my critique partners. While I wait for that, I’m drafting a detailed outline for the As-Yet-Unnamed Book-The-Third.

4. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

All of writing is challenging. I had to conquer a lot of fear about my writing in order for it to really flourish, and I still occasionally struggle with fears – that it won’t be good enough, that people will judge the work, or simply not like it. Once my fears are beaten into submission, writing is like an addiction. I can truly say there’s no part that I dislike (except maybe for fixing commas. I just stink at that).

5. Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

I’m a serious Scott Westerfeld fangirl. He’s brilliant, he takes chances with his work, his writing and imagination are fantastic. Simply brilliant! Did I say brilliant? The guy is wicked good at his craft.

6. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Let me know what you think of the books! I always love hearing from readers. #makesmyday

7. How did you come up with the idea for Open Minds?

I wanted to enter a 1^st paragraph contest online, but I didn’t like the 1^st paragraphs in my current novels. So I made one up for a novel that didn’t exist. The idea of it captured my imagination and I was pretty much forced to write the novel from there.

8. Who is your favorite or least favorite character to write?

I love all my characters. Seriously. Although I have a teensy crush on my bad boy characters, which you can probably tell from reading the stories.

9. There were a couple scenes in open minds that made me want to cry. Were there any scenes you didn't want to write?

I cry while writing all my novels. Partly because I’m a mush, and partly because I try to put my whole soul into writing. That makes really tough scenes very difficult to write sometimes. There’s one in particular in Open Minds that took me several months to finally push through and write (you can probably guess which one, if you’ve read the book). I kept trying to find a way around writing it, but the story demanded that it be there, so I had to write it.

10. On the other hand, were there any scenes you liked that didn't make it to the final revision?

Oh lots! In fact, I rewrote the thing so many times, I’ve lost track of the scenes that were cut or rearranged beyond recognition. But just because I really liked a particular kissing scene (hm, they always seem to be kissing scenes), doesn’t mean that it needs to be there in the final cut. I’m a big fan of only having what is necessary for the story.

Fun time!

• In the point of view of any character you choose, answer these: In the POV of Simon.

1. What is your dirty little secret? I’ve got a lot of secrets. It’s hard to pick just one. Not that I would tell you, in any event.
2. You're walking along and a dragon appears in front of you. What do you do? Slay it with my awesome mind powers. Or mindjack someone else into running slower than me.
3. What is your heart's desire? To have Kira choose me, even if she finds out who I really am.

Bonus round!
Do you have any questions for me?  

What was your favorite scene in the book? 

 My personal favorite has to be towards the end, when everyone is having nightmares and them *ahem* suddenly start having good dreams. I think it was really sweet.

Which one made you cry?

*Spoilers* It's a tie between when they took Laney and when Simon never made it out of the camp. Thinking about it now, it's definitely when Simon died. That was just cruel. ;) 

Is there one last thing you want to tell your readers? There’s a short prequel story to Open Minds called Mind Games coming out in an anthology on Valentine’s Day. It will be free on Smashwords, and the story gives you a taste of Raf’s POV, and what it’s like to be a mindreader in love with the only girl in school that doesn’t read minds. You can add it to your TBR here. 

And lastly: Where can we all follow you?

Here’s all my online deets: blog, twitter, facebook, Mindjack website. You can also subscribe to my author newsletter to get information about giveaways and upcoming releases

Review: Open Minds by Susan Quinn

 general summary:  Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.


My review: I usually don't opt for buying books on my 4-12 hour a week salary. But this intrigued me, and I'm elated that this book did not disappoint me. New words (demens, mesh, etc) threw me off a bit at first, but by chapter two they were an easy addition to my vocabulary.

Kira stole my heart right away, and I was rooting for her the whole book through. Once I got to the more emotional parts--I can't help it. I cried. Ms. Quinn is an exceptional writer, and I can't wait for the next books.

In fact, during halloween, I trick-or-treated with my little sister for two streets, and gave her my candy in return for some reading time.

I can't possibly give justice in a review to how amazing this book is. All I can say is: Buy it. Buy it now and start reading right away. You'll love it.