Mundie Moms

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Infernal Devices 31 Days of Clockwork Prince Celebration: Day 3, Clockwork Prince Giveaway



It's day 3 of our Clockwork Prince 31 Day Celebration and in less than 1 month Clockwork Prince will be out!!! Today we're celebrating it's upcoming releases with a GIVEAWAY for a copy of Clockwork Prince!!! This is for a pre-ordered copy from Walmart, which contains an extra from Jem. You can read about the different editions here. Since I'm pre-ordering this, please note this book will arrive after CP's release.

Since this is for a copy of our most highly anticipated book of 2011, we're going to change things up a bit with this giveaway. We're going to give extra points for those who have been apart of our Mundie Moms prior to this giveaway and we're also giving points for those who are just joining us.


To enter, fill out the form below & leave us a comment letting us know who you hope Tessa chooses in CP.
- this giveaway is open international *(please see below)
- you must be 13 yrs & older to enter (if under age you must have a parent/guardian's permission to enter)
- this giveaway will end on December 1st, 2011


* International giveaway rules apply & if an international winner is chosen, the book will ship to me & I'll in turn send it out to them. That winner will only cover the shipping charge I pay to send it directly to them.

Destined Blog Tour: Destined by Jessie Harrell

We're the next stop on the DESTINED blog tour hosted by our friends over at Good Choice Reading. Today you can read my review, enter to win an e-book of DESTINED and read an DESTINED extra!!
Published by: Mae Day Publishing
To Be Released on: November 17th, 2011
Source: ARC from author to review
4.5 stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Pre-Order from: Amazon

When Psyche receives a prophecy gone horribly wrong, she learns that even the most beautiful girl in Greece can have a hideous future. Her fate? Fall in love with the one creature even the gods fear.

As she feels herself slipping closer into the arms of the prophecy, Psyche must choose between the terrifyingly tender touch she feels almost powerless to resist and the one constant she's come to expect out of life: you cannot escape what is destined.

Destined is a fresh and heartachingly romantic retelling of the Cupid & Psyche myth from debut novelist, Jessie Harrell -quoted from Goodreads

I am a huge sucker for a well written Greek mythology re-telling, and Destined delivers a story that's engaging, witty, fast paced and fun. This is a story that I feel isn't as well known as the other, and I really enjoyed Jessie's unique re-telling of Cupid and Psyche's mythology! I've not read a story that centered on Eros before and I thoroughly enjoyed it! It's an exciting blend of romance, passion, and there's an enticing character chemistry between Eros and Psyche that kept me turning the pages.

I adored the characters. Eros and Psyche are both flawed, yet strong characters. They start off not wanting anything to do with each other, but end up falling for each other in such a natural way. I loved how the two of them earned each other's love. I loved how determined both were about earning the other's love. Eros is the one that surprised me the most. He's so passionate, honest and when he could have easily forced Psyche to love him, he gave her the choice, though she didn't stand much of a chance in telling him no after all he does for her. Psyche herself is not just a beautiful person on the outside, but inside. She herself just wants to be loved for who she is, and surprisingly finds that in someone she first despised. One of the things I really admired about both characters is the fact they own up to their flaws and mistakes, and don't make excuses for them. They both do some stupid things, but in trying to correct their mistakes they earn admiration and respect from each other. I really adored their love story *sigh*

This story wouldn't be complete with out a bit of a betrayal and of course jealousy. The betrayal in this story was fabulous! Jessie did such a great job at creating a love story about an act of betrayal. The jealously that stems of this was written perfectly into the story. I'll admit, I didn't see that one coming, though I should have. I really enjoyed the way in which Jessie revealed pieces of information at all the right times. It made the story flow so well and kept me completely invested in what was going to happen next. Destined is rich in details, character development, mythology and has a well thought out plot line that left me wanting more. I loved that the story is told in alternating points of view between Psyche and Eros. There's plenty of romance along with heartbreak, pain, hope, love, passion and redemption within in the pages of this story. I think fans of Greek mythology will really love this well written, unforgettable story. It's a clean cut, must have read that I highly recommend picking it up!

Enjoy this Destined extra:

Exile is supposed to be punishment. Temporary exile, temporary punishment.
The last time I shot Zeus with my arrows and made him seduce a mortal woman in the form of a goat (it seemed funny at the time), he imposed the later sentence. Six weeks in Media. Six weeks in a region where the gods are ignored in favor of some sort of religion called Zorastrianism. Whatever that is.
Without the prayers and tributes, I figured I’d be dead on my feet by the end of those weeks. I was right about being dead on my feet, just wrong about the reason.

***

Greeks don’t build places like this. An artificial hill, surrounded by a low, stone wall, rose up to meet the night sky. At the top, flames licked at burning logs, reducing them to brittle bones. The air stank of sandalwood as revelers pressed against each other, battling for space to toss their meager twigs into the hungry inferno.
Hunkered down in a rough wool cloak, I’d snuck in to watch the religious ceremony. I stayed against the perimeter, hoping to enjoy the spectacle anonymously. But the flames cast these creepy-seductive shadows against the walls, making me feel watched. And present in the moment of the dance.
The longer I watched, the more I wanted to join the swirling crowd. The movements of those performing the ritual were hypnotic, reminding me of the way Maenads twirl for Dionysus. But one figure dancing before the firelight stood out from the rest.
Her slender hips pulsed with the rhythm of the drums. Her soft, brown curls swirled down her back, caressing her shoulders and barely tickling her waist. I watched her move, entranced by the the way motion flowed from her.
When she turned her head and caught my prying gaze, her eyes were as emerald as any gem. Finding my stare, she narrowed her lids for a moment. Then she smirked, shot me a wink, and went back to her dance.
That was all the invitation I needed.
For the next two weeks, I was lost in her embrace. The world didn’t exist for me beyond her. When she spoke my name, my heart nearly liquified. Her laughter was like the delicate clinking of coins. She made me forget my temporary exile. Forget everything aside from her perfect face. Her delicate name.
Lelah.
The way the word rolled off my tongue was a music all its own, smooth and velvety. I’d have stayed with her forever if she’d asked me.
But she didn’t.
Instead, she asked me the one question I was foolish enough to answer: who are you really?
When I told her my true name, she laughed. Only this time, it wasn’t tinkling and merry. It was raucous and jarring. Her head tilted back as her chortles escaped up her throat and tangled around me. Mocking me. She didn’t believe.
She didn’t believe in me.
The more I persisted, the weaker she laughed. The dimmer her eyes grew. In a moment of blind outrage, I ignited my inner light, intending only to show her a spark of my divinity. As my skin began to glow beneath the surface, Lelah scrambled backward in our bed like a crab. Her legs tangled in the sheets and she fell to the floor, shrieking. Forever shrieking.
“Sorcerer, get out!”
Where her eyes used to be awash in love, they were now mired in fear. I wanted to hate her for denying me, sending me into another sort of exile, but the fault was just as much mine. Had I not met her in a country that denies the gods? At a ritual for another religion?
I was a fool for thinking she’d believe in a concept so foreign to her. I was a fool for not recognizing that she’d never believe in me.
And so I left, scraping up the pieces of my broken heart and encasing them in a wall thicker than the one surrounding the bonfire that first night. My temporary exile turned out to be the least of my punishments; it was nothing in comparison to the wrenching pain of lost love.
So I vowed never to trust again. Never to love again. Especially not a mortal. Once my heart was whole, I would never again let it be shattered. For nearly two years, I kept that promise to myself. I found comfort in the arms of various nymphs and women, but I never let myself get attached. Never let down my walls.
And then came Psyche.
________________________________

Thank you to Jessie and Good Choice Reading, we're giving away an e-book of Destined! This is open internationally and to enter, please leave us a comment, along with your email address. This giveaway will end 48 hours after our post is up and Jessie will be using random.org to choose the winner.

Be sure to visit the other stops in the Destined blog tour for your chances to win more fabulous prizes.

Twitter Tuesday - Gina Rosati


I popped over to twitter and noticed all the re-tweets for Gina's gorgeous cover of Auracle. I've already added it to my TBR list. Have you?

On the surface, there’s nothing remarkable about Anna Rogan: She gets average grades, she’s not especially fashionable, she spends most of her time just hanging out with her best friend Rei. But Anna does have a remarkable secret: she has the ability to do astral projection. She uses her out-of-body experiences to explore the universe, until one day when there’s an accident at school and her classmate Taylor gets into her body. Now Taylor’s using her new identity to accuse an innocent boy of murder and she shows no signs of leaving Anna’s body. The only person who knows Anna’s secret is Rei, and as her feelings for Rei grow she must face a future where they can never touch...unless they can get find a way to get Taylor out of Anna’s body, stop the murder trial, and discover the true nature of Anna’s power.

Astral projections? It sounds so cool, doesn't it? Look for it on August 7, 2012. In the mean time be sure to add it to your TBR on goodreads. Follow Gina on twitter and check out her blog, too.

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