Mundie Moms

Friday, February 22, 2013

Shadows in the Silence Blog Tour: Author Guest Post



Welcome to the last stop in the blog tour for Shadows in the Silence, hosted by Page Turners. Today I'm thrilled to have a guest post from author Courtney Allison Moulton. First, here's a little bit about Shadows in the Silence.


Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . . Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for: She must fight for Will. The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity. 
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself. 
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.


You can pick up Shadows in Silence from Amazon | Barnes and Noble | IndieBound 

Add it to Goodreads




 On Completing a Trilogy

 I can’t believe the Angelfire trilogy is all done and published. It’s the craziest feeling to sit here and think about that. I’ve written other books before, but I’ve never finished am entire story. My first book was completed when I was 16 and it was then that I decided that I wanted to be a published author. Now ten years later, I’m 26 and have an entire trilogy published. I spoke to Veronica Roth a few days ago about how bittersweet writing that last book is. She said it was like high school graduation, and I’d never heard a more accurate comparison. You’re so excited to reach the end of this part of your life and to move on to new things, but leaving all of your friends behind and reflecting on how far you’ve come is so heart-breaking.


Angelfire had been so easy to write. I had brand new characters and a new story with so much promise. I hammered it out in 39 days for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in 2008 when I’d just turned 22. Finding an agent was easy and I was so lucky to find the perfect publisher for Angelfire, Katherine Tegen Books at HarperCollins. I wrote the sequel, Wings of the Wicked, at a horse show in July of 2010. I wanted to make this book harder and darker and grittier, and I’m absolutely certain I pulled it off. Wings earned a starred review from the Voice of Youth Advocates. That book, while it didn’t take me long to write, was so torturous. I had to get inside the heads of my characters and dig deep within myself to find their grief. It was agonizing at times, but Wings of the Wicked is my favorite of the trilogy.

Shadows in the Silence took over a year to complete and writing that book was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was the end of Ellie’s and Will’s story, of all of my characters’ stories. When I began writing Shadows, I was patient and really enjoying the process. The second half of the book was written well past my deadline and I had to rush it. If I’d had two years to write that book, it could’ve been perfect, but that’s not how publishing works. This is a job and I had to do my work. When I finally turned it in, I cried so hard for days. At first I felt loss, rather than victory after completing a trilogy. I was so lucky that after I pitched my editor Madeleine’s and Bastian’s story, A Dance with Darkness, my publisher decided to pick it up for the new Harper Impulse imprint and I got to work with my characters one last time. It’s a prequel, but it was so rewarding to see the younger, less experienced versions of my reapers and to learn even more about them. Getting to write A Dance with Darkness was a gift, a last good-bye.

 Looking back, it’s been an amazing journey full of ups and downs. There’s no feeling like walking into a bookstore and seeing my books on the shelves. It’s surreal and I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to it. I’ve grown as a writer and the only way to go from here is up. I have a million ideas for books and I’m so thrilled to get to fall in love with a new story and new characters. I think I’ve become a real adult now, after having been through this journey with Angelfire. After all, young adult fiction is about finding yourself and coming of age. I did that, and I’m ready for whatever comes next.



The GiveawayDuring this fabulous tour, Courtney is giving away 3 sets of her Angelfire series! To enter, please fill out the forum below, but be sure to read the terms & conditions before entering.

  a Rafflecopter giveaway


The TourDon't miss any of the stops. Check out who's on the tour and what they'll be sharing with each stop here:


1/30 - Once Upon a Twilight 
2/1 - thebookcellarx

2/4 - supernaturalsnark
2/6 - MundieMoms
2/8 - Fiktshun

2/12 - PageTurnersBlog
2/13 - Once Upon A Twilight
2/15 - thebookcellarx

2/18 - supernaturalsnark
2/20 - Fiktshun
2/22 - MundieMom 


Flashback Friday / Book Review: The Golden Lily (A Bloodlines Novel) by Richelle Mead

Happy Flashback Friday! Today's feature is for a book that I've sadly had sitting on my shelf for WAY too long. I really enjoyed reading Bloodlines, and I have no idea why I didn't read The Golden Lily sooner than I did, because holy hotness Adrian. I LOVED this book. The entire storyline was brilliant. 


By: Richelle Mead
Published by: Razorbill
Released on: 6/12/12
Source: arc from publisher to review
5 stars: I LOVED IT!
Series: Bloodlines #2
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Sydney Sage is an Alchemist, one of a group of humans who dabble in magic and serve to bridge the worlds of humans and vampires. They protect vampire secrets—and human lives.

Sydney would love to go to college, but instead, she’s been sent into hiding at a posh boarding school in Palm Springs, California–tasked with protecting Moroi princess Jill Dragomir from assassins who want to throw the Moroi court into civil war. Formerly in disgrace, Sydney is now praised for her loyalty and obedience, and held up as the model of an exemplary Alchemist.

But the closer she grows to Jill, Eddie, and especially Adrian, the more she finds herself questioning her age–old Alchemist beliefs, her idea of family, and the sense of what it means to truly belong. Her world becomes even more complicated when magical experiments show Sydney may hold the key to prevent becoming Strigoi—the fiercest vampires, the ones who don’t die. But it’s her fear of being just that—special, magical, powerful—that scares her more than anything. Equally daunting is her new romance with Brayden, a cute, brainy guy who seems to be her match in every way. Yet, as perfect as he seems, Sydney finds herself being drawn to someone else—someone forbidden to her.

When a shocking secret threatens to tear the vampire world apart, Sydney’s loyalties are suddenly tested more than ever before. She wonders how she's supposed to strike a balance between the principles and dogmas she's been taught, and what her instincts are now telling her.

Should she trust the Alchemists—or her heart?


What a fabulous sequel to Bloodlines! This book was even better than the first. I didn't want this story to end, especially on the note it ends on. I'm totally addicted to Adrian and Sydney's story. I need more from them. Not that I don't enjoy the other characters, as I do, but Sydney and Adrian have totally stolen my heart, and I am completely hooked with this series! 

I mentioned in my review of Bloodlines (found here), that I thought Adrian was going to be a character who makes a lot of changes with this series, and boy does he ever. I totally admit I keep reading this series just so I can read more about Adrian. He's that complex character who has totally won me over. He's the type of character I want to see good things happen to him. How could I not love him. He's just so fabulously written. He broken, loyal, admirable, in love,  knows all the right things to say, doesn't hold back and he's romantic. Okay, really he's all that and more. I love how he challenges Sydney. He pushes her, makes her think, urges her out of her comfort zone, and at the same time, he's always there, for her. Doing whatever it is he can to help her. 

Sydney. Oh this girl kills me sometimes. I just want her to break out of her uptight little shell and just give into Adrian already. Really I wanted her to cut loose a little bit more, though I admired that she was able to stay so in control through out this storyline. She's grown a lot, and has a lot more to go, but there's something about her makes me sympathize with her. I don't know if it's because she does have these insecurities she hasn't out grown, if it's her drive, but there's something about Sydney that draws me to her. I can see why Adrian and Sydney are so right for each other. They're so much alike, and yet different all at the same time, and yet when these two are together, their tension, witty comments, and swoon worthy character chemistry make for some sizzling moments.

Richelle Mead has definitely created on heck of hot romance between these two. I love the way it's developed. Holy crap, that ending! WHY?????????? Oh my hot vampire love story. My heart can't take this any more. I'm totally anxious to dive into The Indigo Spell to find out what happens next. This is a must read for fans of Richelle Meads!

Freebie Friday: A THANK YOU Giveaway

Happy Friday! I mentioned earlier this week on Twitter that I was blown away over the blog receiving over 2 million visits, and in return I wanted to host a Thank You giveaway. It's utterly surprising to me that so many of you have stopped by and visited the blog in the four years it's been up. THANK YOU so very much for all your visits and support. Today I'd like to give a little something back. I have two EPIC 2013 YA arcs up for grabs.

























The Elite by Kiera Cass                                                             Life After Theft by Aprilynne Pike

Want to win these? All you have to do is fill out the form below. This is open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!!! Don't forget to check out our 4th Birthday Bash giveaway going on here.

Clockwork Prince Read Along Day 3: Chapter 2



Welcome to Day 3 of the Clockwork Prince Read Along. You can follow the entire read-a-long and find each of the day's posts here. Remember there's no right or wrong way to participate. Your comments can be as long or a short as you'd like them to be. You can answer one or each of the questions asked, it's totally up to you, BUT, in order to be entered into the CP giveaway (which you also had to sign up to win), you do need to be actively participating in the read-a-long. 

Today's discussion is about: Chapter 2
  • What do you make of Jessamine's comment, "Shadowhunters. As if I'd want to marry one of them." Given the fact she is one, I always found this comment to sound as though she thinks she's not one, and that she's better than them. Would you agree or do you think her comment is justified?
  • I loved seeing that Charlotte came out of she shell a bit more in this chapter. Do you think Charlotte has what it takes to keep her position at the Institute?
  • I love Tessa, Jem and Will in this chapter. Their conversation about Mortmain was entertaining. I do love how Will always seems to throw some sort of phobia or disease. What do you love the most about the relationship Will, Jem and Tessa have?
Please DO NOT POST SPOILERS. There's some fans who are joining the read-a-long who are reading Clockwork Prince for the first time. 

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