Mundie Moms

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Mortal Instruments Graphic Novel Mundie Moms Exclusive / Giveaway!

Guess what!?! I have an exclusive to share with you guys from Th3rd World Studios! You know how we've all been patiently awaiting comic book Jace to be released, well this week he will be!! Today I've not only got a sneak peak of The Mortal Instruments Graphic Novel for you, and I've got 5 FREE codes to give out for issue 1! First, let me tell you a little bit about how the Graphic Novel is going to be released. 


The official Press Release

" New York Times bestselling author Cassandra Clare and publisher Th3rd World Studios have teamed up to release Clare’s acclaimed urban fantasy trilogy, The Mortal Instruments as a series of graphic novels with Wednesday’s exclusive digital release of issue 1 of the City of Bones,  on comiXology, the revolutionary digital comics platform available across iPhone, iPad, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows 8 and the Web." *This official press release will be released tomorrow 9/26/12

Specifics about the Graphic Novel's release:
The single issues of the comic will start being released via an app available on iOS, Android as well as desktop PCs called ComiXology. Initially it will only be available there, however Th3rd World Studios will be expanding this to additional apps as well as Kindle and hopefully Apple Books over the coming months. The single issues are approximately 25-30 pages in length each and use something that is know as "guided view" which allows you to view one panel at a time, or view the pages in their entirety. They will be releasing (for the time being) 1 issue per month, which will lead up to the release of a collected print edition by Simon and Shuster.

Release Schedule:
09/26 - Issue 1 FREE Preview & Issue 1 
10/24 - Issue 2
11/21 - Issue 3

Price point will be $2.99 per issue (you can buy it and it on on any ComiXology enable device or browser. 

* More release dates will be announced soon, and when they are I'll post them here. 

FREE PREVIEW: Thank you to Th3rd World Studios I have an early FREE preview of the City of Bones graphic novel, Issue 1. Check it out HERE

comiXology Info
The series will be available on the comiXology app, which is available on pretty much all devices and pc/laptops http://www.comixology.com It is the standard for comic reading app wise, and hands down the best one out there. 

THE GIVEAWAY: Thank you to Th3rd World Studios, I have 5 free codes for the 1st Issue of The Mortal Instruments Graphic Novel to giveaway!! To enter, fill out the form below. Winner's will be chosen at 10 pm CST. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


THANK YOU to Th3rd World Studios and Simon & Schuster this amazing sneak peak!

Promised by Caragh M. O'Brien Blog Tour: Book Review, Author Interview, Giveaway

By: Caragh M. O'Brien
Published by: Roaring Brook
To Be Released on: October 2nd, 2012
Source: book from publisher to review
4.5 stars: I Really Enjoyed It
Pre-Order from: MacMillan | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Birthmarked Series: Book #3

After defying the ruthless Enclave, surviving the wasteland, and upending the rigid matriarchy of Sylum, Gaia Stone now faces her biggest challenge ever.  She must lead the people of Sylum back to the Enclave and persuade the Protectorat to grant them refuge from the wasteland.  In Gaia's absence, the Enclave has grown more cruel, more desperate to experiment on mothers from outside the wall, and now the stakes of cooperating or rebelling have never been higher.  Is Gaia ready, as a leader, to sacrifice what--or whom--she loves most? - quoted from Goodreads

What a perfect way to ending to a great series. One of the strong themes in this series is choices. Each of the characters have choices to make, and often times many of those choices involve sacrifices. The thing I've enjoyed the most about Caragh's Birthmarked series is the way her characters have continued to grow. The choices they've made have shaped them into the people they become and are in Promised, and play huge roles in the choices they make and the consequences that have followed them through out this series. There's a lot of things that have happened through out the course of this series, and I like how each of their choices and various consequences both good and bad played out through each book. As a reader I loved how various events that played out in Birthmarked and Prized are tied to things that happen in Promised. I really enjoyed how each book played off of the previous one. I feel sometimes in series that gets lost with each book, but not in Caragh's case. 

Unlike the first two books in the series, Promised is more about Gaia's incredible transformation into a leader and a warrior for the rights of her people. I feel like she's the character who's grown the most in this series, as she should have been. Where Birthmarked introduced me to her character, Prized allowed me to see her relationships with others, which was fitting for that book as those relationships play key roles in this book. Promised gave me a strong leader in Gaia, and made her more relatable to me in many ways. She's a flawed character who sacrifices a lot for those she loves, and those she leads. Those I didn't agree with every choice she made, I understood why she made them. In a very relatable and realistic way, Gaia makes choices that sometimes have promising effects and other choices that lead to disastrous consequences. I felt that everything that she does was fitting for a world were survival was crucial, and war felt like a real possibility.

In this mix of everything that's going Gaia not only learns to trust herself, but her heart more as well. I seriously couldn't fall in love with Leon any more than I did in this book. The relationship between Gaia and Leon has been one of my favorites, and I loved the role it took and the stronger it became in Promised. It's one of those beautiful, broken, wonderful relationships that has come at a price for both them, but yet they both embrace what the other offers them. I don't even know how to explain what I really love about their relationship other than the fact it's so well written, and I loved every moment of these two together! That ending... sigh. It wraps up the series perfectly, while also leaving a few things unanswered, which for this series works great. It allows me as the reader to feel completely satisfied with how everything ends, and gives me hope for the future of the characters involved in Gaia and Leon's lives. I highly recommend picking up this heart pounding, sigh worthy, action packed book. 

You can read my reviews for Birthmarked and Prized here. 


I'm thrilled to be the second stop on MacTeen Books's blog tour for Caragh M. O'Brien's Promised blog tour. Today Caragh has stopped by to answer a few of my questions about her upcoming release, as well as a giveaway courtesy of MacTeens.


 Hi Caragh! Welcome to Mundie Moms. I'm so thrilled to have you back to talk about Promised. As a reader I have really enjoyed the direction this series has gone. Are you pleased with the way the series has gone, or have you been surprised with the various turns of events that have taken place?

Katie, it’s great to be back with you on Mundie Moms for another blog tour! I feel like I’m picking up a familiar conversation with you, and that’s so nice.

I’m definitely pleased by how Gaia’s story has evolved, but that’s because of the surprises along the way.  Gaia’s adventures in the second book, Prized, upped the stakes in unexpected ways, which I felt was important to push her toward becoming a leader. Now with Promised, she’s ready to come back and tackle the Enclave.  Or at least, she’s as ready as she can be. The third book throws her some dark situations and painful decisions, too.

It's also interesting to see how the various characters change and grow over the course of a series. Which of your characters has surprised you the most in terms of how much they've changed and the path they've gone on?

I like how you mentioning characters growing, because it feels to me like that’s what happens to them, and it’s not a smooth transition.  Leon, for instance, seems to change quite a bit in the first book, from polite and morally dead to curious and selfless, but he’s really becoming who he was meant to be all along.  It makes sense for him to continue an awakening in later books, with bigger problems and risks.  I think of his character deepening, and he’s definitely surprised me.  He’s not necessarily better or worse, but more himself, if that makes sense.  I’ve been thinking about Leon a lot lately because his story “Ruled” recently came out, and I realize how much I like making him miserable.

Readers often times have a favorite character they feel drawn to in a series. As an author, do you tend to love your characters all equally, or are there ones you favor over the others with each book?

Gaia’s my favorite character.  I admire her, and I also want to shake her sometimes.  I love how she tries so hard to do the right thing, and how she ends up hurting people despite that.  I don’t bother loving all my characters equally.  They matter to me enormously when they’re in a scene, and then I let them go.

Do you have a favorite line from your book that you can share with us?

Oh, my gosh. That’d be hard. I’d have to read the book again, wouldn’t I? Actually, no. I know. I like the very last line of Promised.  The book was going into first pass pages, I think, very late into the publishing process, after copy edits, and I was still weighing that last line and wondering if it sang the right way.  I was agonizing about it with my editor Nancy Mercado, and I said I was counting on the imagery to carry a lot of the mood, but I wasn’t sure it was working. I worried it was too contrived or too flat.  You know what Nan said? She said it was perfect. She said I could trust my readers to get what I meant, and I just loved that.  It’s totally true. I completely trust my readers to understand what I’m saying, like they’re my kindred spirit friends.  It was such a lovely moment for me to realize that.

Book wise, which book in your series did you enjoy writing the most, and which one was the most difficult one for you to write?

I liked writing Promised the most.  Birthmarked was just pure, devious fun. Then Prized involved this torturous, heart-wrenching process that forced me to grow as a person. It was worth it, but not comfortable. And then Promised brought all of that together again into a fascinating puzzle that ripped me up and spat me out again. Oh, my gosh. I sound like I’m wrestling in a pit with fanged beasts or something.  I guess that’s what writing feels like to me.  Does that answer your question?

If you were a character in your book, which character would you most likely be friends with?

I’d be friends with Gaia.  She has real friendships with all sorts of people, from Will and Norris to Josephine and Myrna.  I’d like to see if she laughs more when she isn’t so stressed.  I’m guessing she does.  

Thank you again Caragh for stopping by Mundie Moms today. Congratulations on your books upcoming release!

Thanks again for having me by, Katie! It’s hard for me to believe Promised will be out by this time next week. I’m definitely getting excited!


Visit Caragh M. O'Brien via: her Website | Twitter 

Don't Miss

Fierce Reads
—Caragh M. O’Brien is part of the Fall 2012 Fierce Reads campaign and she will be going on a multi-city and multi-author tour in October. Details can be found here.
A free Fall 2012 Fierce Reads chapter sampler for e-readers is available, which includes Promised




Promised Blog Tour Schedule

Monday 9/24                     http://thebookmuncher.blogspot.com/
Tuesday 9/25                     http://mundiemoms.blogspot.com/
Wednesday 9/26              http://www.lushbudgetproduction.com/
Friday 9/28                          http://www.twochicksonbooks.com/
Saturday 9/29                    http://www.thebookmonsters.com/
Monday 10/1                     http://www.areadersadventure.com/
Tuesday 10/2                     http://www.startingthenextchapter.com/
Wednesday 10/3              http://birthofanewwitch.wordpress.com/
Thursday 10/4                   http://theninjalibrarian.blogspot.com/


The Giveaway:

Enter to win a Birthmarked prize pack! Thank you to Mac Teens, 1 lucky winner will win each book from Caragh's Birthmarked series, which includes Birthmarked, Prized and Promised. To enter, please fill out the form below.  Good luck :)


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Review: Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan



Published by: Random House
Released on: September 11th, 2012 TODAY
Source: ARC/book from publisher to review
5 stars: I LOVED It!
Purchase from: Random House | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return.

The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him? quoted from Goodreads


Oh Sarah Rees Brennan how you slay me with your beautiful, complex relationships, and much like Cassie Clare, and Holly Black, you don't hold back on allowing your characters to hurt. I am in love with UNSPOKEN. It's not just the beautiful cover that did me in (which by the way is one of my favorites from this year), but it's what I felt emotionally while reading this book. I'm a huge fan of Sarah's writing, and I personally feel this is Sarah's best book yet! When a book leaves me yearning for more, as well as for the characters you know the author has done their job in hooking you and holding you in their clutches. I feel like somewhere in a quiet room Sarah Rees Brennan is doing her evil laugh over this, because of everything that transpires in this book, and the way it ends, this book broke my heart, as well as gave me hope, and made me sigh. 

UNSPOKEN has this complex, beautiful, heartbreaking relationship between two incredible in-depth characters, Kami and Jared. With this book I felt Sarah really allowed me to understand Kami and Jared's motives, their feelings for one another and the situation they're in, as well as the two of them in a way that made both of them feel very real and relatable. Often times I feel like I get glimpses of the characters when I read a book, but Sarah wrote Kami and Jared in a way that made me feel like I totally got them. I loved feeling like I understood every emotional moment between Kami and Jared, because it's often those same feelings we feel in our realistic relationships. I got why Kami felt vulnerable, scared and unsure of what was happening with her and Jared. At the same time I got the feelings of love and security that also illuminated from both characters at different points in the story. I got the desire, comfort, and wanting that Jared and Kami had, as well as their connection. It made perfect scene to me as a reader when the characters flip flopped on their feelings, because of all that's going on and the secrets they uncover. I loved that one thing always remained the same between them, their loyalty to each other. 

Sarah's writing in my opinion is simply beautiful. It's beautiful for the reasons I mentioned above as well as because she creates these unforgettable characters who leave a lasting impression on me. They're not going to be those characters who ten books later I forget about it. I'm not talking about just Jared and Kami, but  Kami's family, her three close friends and Jared's family as well. The secondary characters each had just as an important role in the book as Kami and Jared did. The richly detailed, complicated history of Jared's family, and the ties it has with Kami's family, along with the gothic feeling of the setting all working together made for an absolutely incredible read that I completely fell in love with. I love it when everything and everyone that is in a book has  purpose. It makes for a much richer storyline, and I felt like there wasn't anything in UNSPOKEN that didn't have a purpose for being in the story or mentioned.

I loved this book! I love it for the reasons I mentioned above and for the many reasons I can't mention for the sake of spoilers. I HIGHLY recommend picking UNSPOKEN up. I really think UNSPOKEN will be the type of book that readers who have not read anything previously of Sarah's will pick it up and love, and those who have been huge fans of Sarah's will be pleasantly surprised with how much they love it. Though they might lovely call her evil with the way she messes with our hearts *insert Sarah Rees Brennan's evil laugh* I am now eagerly awaiting the next installment to be released in The Lynburn Legacy, which I might add can not come soon enough. 

** To learn more about this book, you can read my interview with the Sarah hereYou can find out more about The World of the Lynburn here, and the Characters hereAnd, if you're in the Austin area, be sure to stop by the Austin Teen Book Festival this weekend to meet her in person! 

Twitter Tuesday - Margie Stohl

Okay, I know that May 7, 2013 is not close, but how excited are you to read Margie's ICONS? I know we here at MMs are very excited. Look, she just got the ARCs:

 
In case you're not familiar with the synopsis:


Your heart beats only with their permission.

Everything changed on The Day. The day the windows shattered. The day the power stopped. The day Dol's family dropped dead. The day Earth lost a war it didn't know it was fighting.

Since then, Dol has lived a simple life in the countryside -- safe from the shadow of the Icon and its terrifying power. Hiding from the one truth she can't avoid.

She's different. She survived. Why?

When Dol and her best friend, Ro, are captured and taken to the Embassy, off the coast of the sprawling metropolis once known as the City of Angels, they find only more questions. While Ro and fellow hostage Tima rage against their captors, Dol finds herself drawn to Lucas, the Ambassador's privileged son. But the four teens are more alike than they might think, and the timing of their meeting isn't a coincidence. It's a conspiracy.

Within the Icon's reach, Dol, Ro, Tima, and Lucas discover that their uncontrollable emotions -- which they've always thought to be their greatest weaknesses -- may actually be their greatest strengths.

Bestselling author Margaret Stohl delivers the first book in a heart-pounding series set in a haunting new world where four teens must piece together the mysteries of their pasts -- in order to save the future.
 
You can add it to your goodreads TBR or pre-order it (looks like amazon is the only one with their pre-order link ready): amazon. Don't forget to follow Margie on her blog and see all the Beautiful Creatures movie trailers that are being released. Are you ready to see Lena and Ethan on the big screen? I know I am.  
 

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