Die For Me – Spotlight & Review

  Die For Me by Amy Plum

• Hardcover:352 pages
• Publisher:Tween (Tw) (May 2 2011)
• Language:English
• ISBN-10:0062004018
• ISBN-13: 978-0062004017
• Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Romance

Back Cover Blurb:

“My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one
moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into
storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered
heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of
nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my
heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He
has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has
enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and
all of his kind.

While I’m fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk
putting my heart—as well as my life and my family’s—in jeopardy for a chance at
love?”

My Thoughts:

First of all, can I just take a moment to drool about the cover? Seriously, I am having a severe case of “cover love” here, like I haven’t had since Andrea Cremer’s Nightshade cover. WoW! It’s just stunning and I can’t look at it enough. I need a poster of this cover on my wall. And if the amazing cover wasn’t enough to draw my attention, the story itself was just as unique and wonderfully written! 😀

I know that at first, the plot sounds a bit familiar what with the parents dying tragically, the girls going to live with relatives in an exotic location and the main character falling for a supernatural male protagonist. Well let me tell you, those small details are where the similarities end! This story drew me in, carried me along for the ride and spit me out, leaving me in love with Paris and with Vincent right along with Kate! I felt like I was there in Paris right alongside the characters and I was caught up in the telling of their tale.

Amy Plum’s very unique take on Revenants is awesome! I loved the picture she painted and the places she took me with her words. Kate and Vincent’s journey, both physically and emotionally was fraught with excitement, danger, falling in love, heartbreak and heart stopping moments. I am really struggling here to write a review without spoilers because I’m just so excited about this book, but I think that you’re all getting that from me right?

I’m just going to finish with my opinion that Amy Plum hit a grand slam with Die For Me and that I’m crossing my fingers that there will be more books to come that are based in this world she’s created with these great characters! Go Buy it Now, you won’t regret it.

       

Check out Amy Plum’s Website

Buy Die For Me at:

The Book Depository

Chapters

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Barnes & Noble

 

September 2010 Releases

There are a whole bunch of awesome books being released out into the wild this month! Here are some shiny covers of a few of them that I am DYING to read. 😀 Check out my New Releases page to see all the books along with their release dates. (I’m still working on the title links).

     

     

     

     

Ahh my pretties, how I want you all. Hopefully I’ll get some Chapters gift cards for my birthday next week! 😉

Halo – Trailer

Another book that I have been highly anticipating is Alexandra Adornetto’s YA, Halo!

Hardcover: 496 pages

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Aug 31 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0312656262

ISBN-13: 978-0312656263

Book Description:

“Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone—especially herself—from the Dark Forces.

Is love a great enough power against evil?”

Check out the trailer.

I’ve always been fascinated with Angels, what about you?

Sherry D. Ficklin – Guest Blog & Giveaway

Today, it’s my pleasure to welcome debut author Sherry D. Ficklin to SVR! Her first Paranormal YA novel, Foresight, is out now and she’s been kind enough to come by to guest blog and offer up an autographed copy of Foresight and some swag to one lucky commenter. ( Read my review ) Let’s be sure to give her a warm welcome. 🙂 

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Monster Mash

  

  

Firstly, I’d like to thank Sidhe Vicious for having me today. I’m a huge fan of the blog and being able to bring my debut YA Paranormal Fantasy here is just about the coolest thing ever. 

What I decided to talk about today is trends in YA literature. I have some friends who just came back from RWA (which I’m not actually a member of and don’t attend). One thing they discussed, apparently, was the what’s hot and what’s not in the paranormal genres. 

Out: 

1. Vampires 

Though, there was some debate on this one. One agent said it was “dead again” and another called the fanged ones “timeless” which just goes to show that what one person loves, another will hate. There’s no pleasing everyone, especially agents. 

2. Fallen Angels 

I have seen many of these recently, but I don’t know if I quite agree with this. I think there’s still lots of room in the mix for a well done Angel story, but I would like to see something new, something that puts a twist on what everyone else is doing with them. 

3. Werewolves 

Sorry, my furry friends. You are so over. (Except for you, Bree Despain. You just keep putting out those books) 

IN: 

1. Faeries 

Yes, the fair ones are making the rounds again. Who doesn’t love a good Faerie tale? 

2. Greek Mythology 

With movies like Clash of the Titans and the forthcoming God of War, is this a huge shock? Nope. 

3. Zombies 

Really? I guess so. Not a huge surprise. They are looking for good Zombie books that put a new twist on the old ideas. 

Other huge trends right now are Steampunk (think Dr. Who) and Romance (think Perfect Chemistry). 

Why is this important? Short answer, it’s not. If you (like me) love vampire books, that’s not gonna change just because fewer are being published. “Trends” are crap and writing to a trend is stupid because it takes so long to write and publish a book that by the time you made it to the shelf, the trend would be over anyway. 

So, then why did I write a Greek myth/Faerie story? Because I love them. Passionately. And when I wrote this book, 3 years ago, I had a hard time finding someone to publish it because all anyone wanted was a vampire story. Yep. Thank goodness my publisher had the foresight (no pun intended) to give FORESIGHT a try. 

Monsters will never fall out of favor totally. We love our monsters. We need our monsters. But they do seem to cycle around. So you tell me, what monsters would you like to see more/less of? 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go work on my Zombie/Steampunk/Romance. Have a great week everyone, and Happy Reading! 

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Thanks Sherry! 

 

Giveaway Details: 

Sherry Ficklin has been gracious enough to supply an autographed copy of Foresight, book one in The Gods Of Fate trilogy and a reversable book tote with some swag such as buttons, pens and a beaded book thing to giveaway to one of my readers! Contest is open to Everyone. 

Ask Sherry a question about the book, about writing, or about the paranormal elements she discusses in her guest post!  

For one entry: Please leave a comment with the answer to the question.  (+1 entry)  

 For extra entries:   

• Subscribe to my blog, Sidhe Vicious Reviews, through the links at the top right hand side of the blog, and let me know in your comment. Be sure you verify your subscription through the email you’ll receive or it won’t count. (+1 entry)
• If you’re already subscribed, you’ll receive two extra entries, but be sure to let me know in the comments if you’re an old follower. (+2 entries)
• Post a link to this contest on your Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, GoodReads, LibraryThing, or on your blog and send me the link either in the comments or by email and you’ll get an extra entry for each place you add a link to. ( add 1 entry each for  however many links you’ve done)
• Follow me on Twitter, Add me as a friend on FaceBook, GoodReads, MySpace, Chapters Community or LibraryThing. (add 1 entry each for however many places you followed/friended me)
•  
• Contest is open to Everyone  and will run through September 10th until 11:59pm. The winners will be posted here on September 11th. (That’s my birthday! I can’t think of a better way to celebrate than for one of my readers to win a great book & some cool swag)
• Please leave your email addy in your comment for me to contact you if you’ve won, but post it like wilmaflinstone(at)boomshakalaka(dot)com so you don’t get any spam. If I haven’t heard back from the winner in 7 days, a new winner will be drawn from the eligible comments. Winners will be chosen by a random number generator. Good Luck everyone!

(I should also mention that if you’re leaving me a bunch of links in your comment, do not panic if it doesn’t show up right away. It just automatically gets held for me to moderate, which I will as soon as I’m online. ) 

 

Foresight – Spotlight & Review

Foresight by Sherry D. Ficklin

Paperback: 176 pages

Publisher: Dragonfly Publishing, Incorporated (July 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0984098070

ISBN-13: 978-0984098071

Genre: Young Adult/Paranormal

Book Description:

“All Grace Archer wants is to graduate from high school and get on with her life. But the Gods of Fate have other ideas. Attacked at graduation by a mysterious woman with gruesome henchmen, Grace is lucky to escape with her life.

 Rescued by a Fae warrior named Chris and her Aunt Phoenix, Grace learns that her mother was the Greek Goddess Pandora. Now Grace must protect her mother’s urn from the crazed demi-goddess Lilith, who is determined to unleash its horrors on an unsuspecting Earth. As if her blood legacy is not bizarre enough, Grace begins to develop frightening powers that threaten to destroy her from the inside out. Can Grace find the strength to defeat Lilith? Can she learn to control her powers before she loses her mind?”

My Thoughts:

Foresight is book one in The Gods Of Fate trilogy. I really liked how it starts off at Grace’s graduation with her thoughts on what for her, is a mundane process to be endured. Then the s#%t hits the fan, so to speak, and its non-stop action from there. Grace is a fun, fresh character with a lot of resilience and determination. Faced with difficult odds and shocking information about her blood lines, she bravely goes up against the ultimate foe to fight for her life and those of the people she loves.

Really great story with an interesting mix of the Fae and Greek myth. I loved the characters and their “voices”, the pacing, the seamless mix of two paranormal elements, and the story itself. The only thing I would have preferred to be different is for the story to be fleshed out a bit more in regards to Grace having to deal with everything changing so fast. Maybe the author had a word limit with her publisher, or something to that effect, (I’m just guessing here),  but at some points it felt a bit rushed. That’s just my personal preference though. It’s a great story and I am really looking forward to the next book in the trilogy, Second Sight, due out Sept 2011.  

     

Buy Foresight at:

 The Book Depository  , Amazon, Createspace or Amazon US

Find out more about Sherry D. Ficklin and what she’s working on at her website.

Aug 2010 New Releases

Just a quick post to let you all know that I’ve updated the New Releases page and all of August’s releases are up! 🙂

Here’s a few of the covers for August: