RTW - Best of March

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question that begs to be answered. In the comments on YA Highway, you can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

You can participate! Just answer the prompt on your own blog and leave a link - or, if you prefer, you can include your answer in the comments.

This Week's Topic

What is the best book you read in March?

My favorite read of February was:

HOLD STILL by Nina LaCour

From Goodreads: In the wake of her best friend Ingrid's suicide, Caitlin is left alone, struggling to find hope and answers. When she finds the journal Ingrid left behind for her, she begins a journey of understanding and broadening her horizons that leads her to new friendships and first love. Nina LaCour brings the changing seasons of Caitlin's first year without Ingrid to life with emotion, honesty, and captivating writing.

I know this book has been out for some time now, but for some reason, I just never got around to reading it. I finally purchased it on my Nook and absolutely loved it.

Caitlin's struggle to accept the death of her best friend is emotional and easy to connect with. Caitlin goes from hardly speaking and sleeping in her car, with her parents constant worried gazes, to embracing the life that is still there for her to live.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on HOLD STILL if you've read it.

Also what was your favorite read of March?

Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop Winners

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop and to Kathy from I am a Reader, Not a Writer, for organizing such a great hop!

I used Random.org to draw winners from my entries. Below are the entry numbers and their winners:
 
#1722 - HAVEN by Kristi Cook - Stacy T.
#965 - HALF-BLOOD by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Kylie C.
#869 - Book of Choice - Krista R.

Emails have been sent to all winners. Congratulations!

The YA Spill (#4)

Welcome to The YA Spill! 

The YA Spill is a (mostly) weekly meme where I'll have Q&A with YA book bloggers. As a founding member of a YA book blog, I've had the pleasure of getting to know many bloggers and even though I've stepped back from blogging in that capacity as often, I'm still a huge fan of reading YA book blogs and love hearing the blogger's opinions on the hottest books out there. 

So each week I'll be spotlighting anywhere from one to three YA book bloggers with a few questions on what they're currently loving and can't wait to read next. If you're a YA book blogger, and you'd like to participate in The YA Spill, please email me at cindythomaswrites (@) gmail (dot) com. 

 Please welcome this week's awesome participant:

Christin from Portrait of a Book 

(Blog / Twitter/ Goodreads / Facebook)

What is the most recent book that you've read and loved?
 

The most recent book I've been in love with is Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard.  From the beautiful and vivid descriptions of the scenery to the emotional journeys of Bria and Rowan, I fell in love with everything about this book.  I'm also reading The Immortal Rules right now and I have a feeling that I will love it also.

 

What book recently surprised you?
 

A book that recently surprised me was Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  I'm always hesitant to read sci-fi books, and I wasn't sure how I would feel about cyborgs, but Cinder turned out to be great.  This book turned out to be so much more than I envisioned it to be.

 

What types of books do you wish there were more of? 

 

I enjoy reading a variety of genres within YA, so there isn't any one particular type of book that I am dying for more of.  What I would like to see, however, are books that are different, that take risks by doing things like crossing genres or taking on tough subjects. 

 

What book comes out soon that you can't wait to get your hands on?

 

I can't wait for The Unquiet by Jeannine Garsee.  This book sounds like it has the potential to be amazing!

Thank you so much for stopping by today, Christin! 

P.S. I believe that's the 4th person to mention THE IMMORTAL RULES by Julie Kagawa. I can vouch for the book and agree, it's as amazing as everyone is saying it is. Add it to your to-be-read lists and pre-order this one. It's THAT good. 

Lucky Lephrechaun Giveaway Hop

Welcome to the
2nd Annual Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop

March 17th to 22nd

Co-Hosted By Books Complete Me & I am a Reader, Not a Writer

I'm giving away 3 awesome prizes! To celebrate two of my amazing critique partners, I am giving away one of each of their books & also one additional YA book of your choice. All prizes are open internationally. 

The prizes are:

• 1 book by Kristi Cook - HAVEN or a pre-order of MIRAGE (book two in the series)
• 1 book by Jennifer L. Armentrout - HALF-BLOOD, a pre-order of PURE (book two in the Covenant series), OBSIDIAN, SHADOWS (a Lux novella) or a pre-order of ONYX (book two in the Lux series)
• 1 YA book of your choice.

Read below to find out more about the first books in their series and be sure to tell me which books you're entering for on the Rafflecopter form. 

Also, check below for the full list of blogs participating. Thanks so much for stopping by! 

HAVEN by Kristi Cook

About: Violet McKenna isn’t a normal girl with normal teenage issues; she has more to contend with than most people could handle. Violet thought she was just crazy when she had a vivid vision of her dad’s murder. Her life started falling apart when her premonition came true. She’s had flashes of other events too. The problem was nobody believed her until she found a new school: Winterhaven.

At Winterhaven, Violet finally feels like she belongs. She quickly finds a close group friends and discovers that they too have psychic ‘gifts’—as do all the students at Winterhaven. But as soon as she feels settled she discovers the most intriguing and alluring boy she has ever met, and things quickly go awry. As the attraction between them grows, intense visions of the boy’s death start to haunt her. In her premonitions the secret he is unwilling to share begins to reveal itself. And to Violet's horror, she learns that their destinies are intertwined in a critical--and deadly--way.

HALF-BLOOD by Jennifer L. Armentrout  

                                         

About: The Hematoi descend from the unions of gods and mortals, and the children of two Hematoi-pure-bloods-have godlike powers. Children of Hematoi and mortals-well, not so much. Half-bloods only have two options: become trained Sentinels who hunt and kill daimons or become servants in the homes of the pures. Seventeen-year-old Alexandria would rather risk her life fighting than waste it scrubbing toilets, but she may end up slumming it anyway. There are several rules that students at the Covenant must follow. Alex has problems with them all, but especially rule #1:Relationships between pures and halfs are forbidden. Unfortunately, she's crushing hard on the totally hot pure-blood Aiden. But falling for Aiden isn't her biggest problem--staying alive long enough to graduate the Covenant and become a Sentinel is. If she fails in her duty, she faces a future worse than death or slavery: being turned into a daimon, and being hunted by Aiden. And that would kind of suck.

OBSIDIAN by Jennifer L.  Armentrout                                                                            About: Starting over sucks.When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.And then he opened his mouth.Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. The hot alien living next door marks me.You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. If I don't kill him first, that is.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Click on each blog to hop to their giveaway!

The YA Spill (#3)

Welcome to The YA Spill! 

The YA Spill is a (mostly) weekly meme where I'll have Q&A with YA book bloggers. As a founding member of a YA book blog, I've had the pleasure of getting to know many bloggers and even though I've stepped back from blogging in that capacity as often, I'm still a huge fan of reading YA book blogs and love hearing the blogger's opinions on the hottest books out there. 

So each week I'll be spotlighting anywhere from one to three YA book bloggers with a few questions on what they're currently loving and can't wait to read next. If you're a YA book blogger, and you'd like to participate in The YA Spill, please email me at cindythomaswrites (@) gmail (dot) com. 

 Please welcome this week's awesome participants:

Katie from Mundie Moms

(Blog / Twitter/ Goodreads / Tumblr)

Mundie Moms just (yesterday!!) celebrated their 3rd birthday. Happy Blogoversary Mundie Moms!! 

What is the most recent book that you've read and loved?

That's a tough one! There's been a lot of great books I've read lately. To make it easy I'll narrow it down to what I've read the last month and out of those I'd have to say my favorite is SCARLET by A.C. Gaughen I LOVE this book! Her unique take on Robin Hood and Will Scarlet is fascinating and completely engaging. I loved everything about this book.

What book recently surprised you?

I'd have to say Dan Wells PARTIALS. It was one of those books that was everything I had hoped it would be and it surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. 

What types (you can specific here, or vague as to subgenre, etc) of books do you wish there were more of?

Stand Alones! Don't get me wrong, I love a well written series, but there's so many fabulous stand alones out there as well that get over shadowed by how many series there are. I feel like there's this drive for series right now and not every well written book needs to be apart of a series. I wish there were more stand alones.

What book comes out soon that you can't wait to get your hands on?

Again, that's a hard question but with it being less than two months away, City of Lost Souls. I NEED to know what happens to Jace and Clary. Than of course there's Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Hidden by Sophie Jordan, Spell Bound by Rachel Hawkins.... I've got a huge list of books I can't wait to get my hands on.

As a blogger, you get lots of review requests. What are you looking for in a request that will make you say yes to a review?

Great question! I've gotten a bit tougher on my review requests lately, because I've got a lot more going on outside the blogging world now and I have to picky on what books I'm going to spend my time reading and promoting.  alsoI get a lot of requests and don't have the time to reply to all of them in a timely manner like I used to, which has sadly made me pickier about the ones I do reply to. Well I should say I reply to all the request that are addressed to me personal, and that will make more sense below. 

Here's three things that will make me say yes or reply back to a request:

1) My name. I do not take the time to reply back to generic review requests at all any more. If someone has taken the time to address an email to either my first name or to Mundie Moms I take the time to reply back. 

2) A request that gives me a brief synopsis of their book, as well as links to their sites and a link to where I can read up more about their book is fabulous. That allows me to go research their book and decide if it's a book I'm able to spend the time reading/promoting on my site. I don't want a request that tries to sell me on their book or list all the reasons why I SHOULD read their book.

3) Understanding. I really appreciate a request that understands that I've got a busy schedule and may not be able to read their book in the time frame they would like, and are willing to work with me to fit their book in at a later date. For me, that goes a long way. On the flip side, I also understand there's a lot of bloggers/reviewers out there for them to choose from and I completely appreciate the fact they took the time to contact me and asked me to review their book. The reality is it's impossible for me to get all the reviews I'd like to do in a short amount of time. I personally really appreciate it when an author / publisher understands that.

Thank you so much for having me on!

It was a pleasure, Katie! 

Just because I needed to hear this...

Source: thepipersson.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

I can't even tell you how much I needed this today. I hope it inspires you too!

Winners!

This is super late, and all the prizes have already been mailed, but I still wanted to post and congratulate everyone again on winning. 

Congratulations to all of the winners from my Be My Valentine Giveaway! 

BEWITCHING - Chris Betweenthecovers

THE DISENCHANTMENTS - MarmaladeLibby

MELODY BURNING - Tiffany Mahaffy

FRACTURE - Lean Marsteller

EVE - Jodi

20 page critique: Lucy D. Briand

I'm participating in another giveaway for St. Patrick's Day, so be sure to check back from March 17th through the 22nd for the Lucky Leprechaun Giveaway Hop. 

The YA Spill (#2)

  

Welcome to the second installment of The YA Spill! You're probably wondering what The YA Spill is, right? 

The YA Spill is going to be a weekly (I hope) meme or sorts where I'll have Q&A with YA book bloggers. As a founding member of a YA book blog, I've had the pleasure of getting to know many bloggers and even though I've stepped back from blogging in that capacity as often, I'm still a huge fan of reading YA book blogs and love hearing the blogger's opinions on the hottest books out there. 

So each week I'll be spotlighting two or three YA book bloggers with a few questions on what they're currently loving and can't wait to read next. If you're a YA book blogger, and you'd like to participate in The YA Spill, please email me at cindythomaswrites (@) gmail (dot) com. 

 Please welcome this week's awesome participants:

Yara from Once Upon a Twilight  

(Blog / Twitter / Goodreads)

What is the most recent book that you've read and loved? 

I just finished reading about a week ago, Julie Kagawa's new book in her new series. The book is called The Immortal Rules and its part of Blood of Eden series. I was extremely excited to get it and be able to read it. This book was Fantastic, which I'm not to surprised since I loved Julie's iron Fey series. 

What book recently surprised you?
 

I will probably say Lisa T. Bergren series The River of Time. I just finished the 3rd installment called Torrent not to long ago. This series is a historical romance and honestly the genre is not at the top of my list. So when I began reading the series and fell in love with it immediately, it completely surprised me. 

What types of books do you wish there were more of?

Well what I love is paranormal and I think we have plenty of choosing in that genre and a new genre I have grown very fond of is Dystopian which also seems to be producing tons of books too. So really I think Im pretty set for now as far as what I want more of. Now if the questions was what author do I want more book published from then I could go on and on. 

What book comes out soon that you can't wait to get your hands on?

I was lucky to get a few at ALA Midwinter when I attended and a few directly from the publishers except for one I really wanted. The one title I have not received and would probably do just about anything to get my hands on would be Insurgent by Veronica Roth, which is the sequel to Divergent.

Andrea from Reading Lark

(Blog / Twitter / Facebook) 

What is the most recent book that you've read and loved?

The Calling by Kelley Armstrong - This is book #2 in the Darkness Rising series and comes out in April. I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from the publisher. I couldn't put this one down. I love Armstrong's writing style. The plot, characters, universe - it's all amazing.

What book recently surprised you?

I am currently reading an adult novel, The Baker's Daughter by Sarah McCoy. I am finding it to be surprising because I am learning things about Nazi Germany that I never knew and also being forced to consider another side to the current illegal immigration issue in the United States. This book is told in an interesting format and calls attention to some pretty important social issues. It has taken me by surprise - in the best possible way.

What types of books do you wish there were more of?

I am a paranormal junkie, but I find that there is a real lack of uniqueness in that area these days. I'm tired of angels, werewolves, and vampires. Yes, shocking, I know. I want to see either those creatures in a completely new universe OR see something new entirely. There are so many fascinating supernatural beings and so many awesome stories from myths and legends. I just want a book that can transport me into a world that I don't want to leave. I haven't truly been able to recreate that since the first time I read the Twilight Saga. Those books weren't the most well written, but there was something addictive lying between those pages. I loved to spend my spare moments of free time in that world with those characters. I want that experience again. After all that blabbering I suppose if I must choose something more specific, I'm longing for a good ghost story. Its been awhile since I've been captivated by one of those.

What book comes out soon that you can't wait to get your hands on?

There are so many good ones coming out soon. This is a really hard question! I suppose if pressed that I would say Carnival of Souls by Melissa Marr.

Thank you so much for joining me, Andrea & Yara!