{Guest Post+Playlist} Lost in Starlight: Sherry Soule

LOST IN STARLIGHT PLAYLIST

Guest Post by Sherry Soule

Today author, Sherry Soule has some exciting news to share with us! She will be publishing a brand new Upper YA / Sci-Fi romance series: the “Starlight Saga” with scorching-hot character chemistry, exciting suspense, and epic romance on June 26, 2014.

To help promote this amazing interstellar love story, “LOST IN STARLIGHT,” Sherry is doing this fun promo to share the news with fellow booklovers.

STARLIGHT SAGA SONG LIST

Some of the most ambiguous lyrics take on new meaning when you’re writing a book, even correlating to some of the scenes or giving insight into Hayden and Sloane’s romantic relationship. Sherry has put together just a few of the awesome songs—a collection of her character’s electric tastes in music—mentioned throughout this epic new series in this post. Enjoy!

“Still Into You” by Paramore

“Radioactive” by Imagine Dragons:

“Boom Boom Pow” by Black Eyed Peas

“Titanium” song by Sia

“I'm Not Okay (I Promise)” by My Chemical Romance

“Stay” song by Thirty Seconds to Mars

“Counting Stars” by OneRepublic

“Sugar, We’re Going Down” by Fall Out Boy

“Jar of Hearts” by Christina Perri

“Cello Sonata, L 135” by Debussy

While writing LOST IN STARLIGHT, Sherry listened to this amazing track on a loop, “4 Hours of Emotional Music” composed by the talented, Adrian von Ziegler. She found the melody really set the mood to the type of romantic tale that she wanted to write. At its core, LOST IN STARLIGHT is basically a love story about two lonely hearts finding each other and how their star-crossed relationship changes both of their lives.

Listen to his music on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6r5bo_D9QY

We hope that you enjoyed this post. Now go feed your mind and read a book!

Please mark your calendars to buy your copy of LOST IN STARLIGHT on June 26th 2014!

Read the first five chapters for free on wattpad:http://www.wattpad.com/story/14214838-lost-in-starlight-syfy-romance

VOLUME ONE: Starlight Saga

High school reporter Sloane Masterson knows she has one helluva story when she witnesses hottie Hayden Lancaster bending forks with his mind.

Like any good journalist, Sloane sets out to uncover the truth, even if it includes a little stalking. When the superhuman feats start to pile up and the undeniable heat rises between them, Hayden has no choice but to reveal his secret: he’s an alien hybrid.

They’re as different as night and day—she’s a curvy, purple-haired, horror junkie and he’s a smoking hot, antisocial, brainiac—yet the intense fascination between them refuses to go away. Even at Hayden’s insistence that dating each other is “off limits” and crazy dangerous, their fiery attraction threatens to go supernova.

Now Sloane’s dealing with creepy government agents, über snobby extraterrestrials, and a psycho alien ex-girlfriend out for revenge. After a crash course on the rules of interstellar dating, Sloane must decide if their star-crossed romance is worth risking her own life....

Places you can visit Sherry Soule:

Official Blog: http://www.sherrysoule.blogspot.com/

Twitter @SherrySoule: http://twitter.com/SherrySoule

Please add LOST IN STARLIGHT to your TBR on goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20707942-lost-to-starlight

The awesome book cover was designed by the talented, Kristen Thompson-Oh ofKCT Designs at www.kctdesigns.com

Eager to read the first five chapters on your Kindle? FREE every Friday from Amazon: http://amzn.to/1hdo6Oh

(Season One) The Attack on Titan: Media Mondays (5)

Hey world, I (Sofia) am still in New York, Rochester this time, and am having a great time with my aunt. By the way, if you're in the area, stop by the French Quarter, the food is to die for. Anyway, this is another Media Mondays coming from Joyce. You a taste of her style earlier when she was introduced in The Sunday Post as well as her manga review last week. All credit goes to her for this I didn't edit anything. Without further ado, The Attack on Titan, Season One.

Aired on April 6, 2013

Season 1 ended September 28, 2013

 

Synopsis: Several hundred years ago, humans were nearly exterminated by Titans. Titans are typically several stories tall, seem to have no intelligence, devour human beings and, worst of all, seem to do it for the pleasure rather than as a food source. A small percentage of humanity survived by walling themselves in a city protected by extremely high walls, even taller than the biggest Titans. Flash forward to the present and the city has not seen a Titan in over 100 years. Teenage boy Eren and his foster sister Mikasa witness something horrific as the city walls are destroyed by a Colossal Titan that appears out of thin air. As the smaller Titans flood the city, the two kids watch in horror as their mother is eaten alive. Eren vows that he will murder every single Titan and take revenge for all of mankind.  (Taken from the Attack on Titan wikia page)

HELLO LADIES...this is Joyce *insert sexy smirk* 

 

I dunno about the whole ink jars thing, but I would give this anime a 9/10 jars. Why? Wee-e-e-ell, I really loved the character development and stuff, but one question lingered at the back of my head...WHY IS EREN SO ANGRY, IT'S LIKE HE'S ON AN ETERNAL MAN PERIOD (sometimes though, he can be pretty hilarious) Another reason why I love AoT were the questions the anime left me with. Why did the titans eat the humans out of pure pleasure? WHY was Annie on the Titans' side? What's in the basement? You get the picture, right? Right.

The feels just about killed me and the gore left me speechless. I mean, really, the first episode SLAYED, and the graphics were just...ACK, TOO AMAZING.  Kudos to the animators and artists, they did a beautiful job of designing and drawing all of the scenes.

 

The Titans were either creepy or cute. There is no in between. The fact that the Titan's lacked genitalia kind of made me wonder how they reproduced too. Do they go through mitosis or something? Or do Titan babies just fall from the sky? Your guess is about as good as mine.

However, one thing sort of bothered me, and that was the lack of answers the anime gave me. I know this goes against my earlier statement about how I enjoyed the questions and such, BUT WOULD IT KILL THEM TO GIVE ME ONE WIDDLE HINT?! I am literally praying that they'll explain some more in Season 2. (I didn't read all of the manga yet, so please bear with my complaining. Oh, and NO SPOILERS. THAT IS AN ORDER.)

 

The character development was awesome (I mean in the beginning Armin was a whiny lil bish, but now look at him. He's like a psycho genius who will kill you with his mind) And of course, Eren is the passionate Titan killer we all know and love. Sometimes, his exclamations of 'IM GONNA KILL ALL OF THE TITANS' kind of ticked me off, but he's hilarious. MIkasa is  well...Mikasa. Personally, I liked Sasha more than Mikasa, since she was a goof and a massive potato lover (like me), so yeah. Levi is well... LEVI.

And yeah, that's about it. Sorry if this was super long. All of these opinions are mine, you don't have to like them, and I respect that.

Peace out,

Joyce

 

Do you know of any book/anime/other forms of media characters that are SOOO annoying because they're on their man periods?

Are you ever frustrated when writers leave people (such as myself) hanging by a thread, and make us guess/wait/wonder what and why they made something the way it is?

(Vol. 1) Hellsing: Kohta Hirang: Media Mondays (4)

Hey, I (Sofia) am currently in New York, having heaps of fun doing god knows what, and this is a scheduled post written by Joyce, otherwise known as crazy #1 that you read the bio of last week during my Sunday Post. Her review style is a bit different from my own, but I thought it would be nice to have a fresh voice on the blog, and all credit goes to her. Without further ado, this is a review of volume one of the manga Hellsing by Kohta Hirang. 

 

Chapters: 92  

Volumes: 10 

Serialization:  Young King Ours

Status: Finished

Publication Date: 1997 --- Sep 30, 2008

Synopsis:  Hellsing, a secret organization of the British government, have long been battling supernatural threats to keep the people safe from creatures of the night. The current leader, Integra Wingates Hellsing controls her own personal army to eliminate the undead beings, but even her highly trained soldiers pale in comparison to her most trusted vampire exterminator, a man by the name of Alucard, who is actually a powerful vampire himself. Along with Integra's mysterious butler and Alucard's new vampire minion, Seras Victoria, The Hellsing Organization must face not only regular ghouls and vampires, but a rivaling secret organization from the Vatican, and Millennium, an enigmatic group of madmen spawned by a certain war over 50 years ago...

A bloody battle between monsters is about to begin, The dead are dancing, and all hell is singing...

SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I'M BACK. And you thought that you've seen the last of me *snickers* Well, I'm back to review a lovely manga by the name of Hellsing. Does that ring a bell? No? Yes? Whatever. I would give this manga a whopping 7 out of ten  ink jars. I gave it a 7, because, firstly, I COULD NOT HANDLE THE LEVEL OF GORE THE MANGA THREW AT ME.  It was unbelievable. The eye for detail was great, but did it have to be THAT detailed? 

I was gagging through the bloodshed (The scene where Alucard shish-ke-bobbed those soldiers really made me cringe. Another scene was also where Yumie sliced up some weapon dealer's eyeballs and...UGH). The plot was great, with the 'I want to take over the world' sort of thing, but seriously, the bloodshed was overkill. The manga was gory, visceral, and explicit. I would not recommend this manga to fans of girly shoujo mangas, because A) There is very little romance in this series, and to be honest, it's kind of refreshing to flip through a few pages without encountering any lip locking, and B) Most people who are used to cute, fluffy romances would experience a rather rude awakening to the darker (and gorier) sides to different types of manga. There wasn't much character development in my opinion, other than Seras overcoming her apparent distaste for drinking blood and her progressively becoming more violent as the series went on (I don't know if that's a good thing).  Alucard was bad ass as usual, with a hint of insanity...or a lot. I sorta get an anti-hero vibe from him, even though he's on the good guy's side. Maybe it's his violence or the fact that he'd rip apart anything in his path. You tell me. In some parts of the manga, I was a little confused, but maybe it was just me not paying attention to the details. The whole manga was centered on various religious beliefs, and it might appear offending to most people, so didn't say I didn't warn you. I loved the little side stories, though. They provided some insight on the Vatican, which was awesome.

 

Not a huge fan of the artwork, because in the first volume, I mistook Integra for a guy, and it didn't help that everyone was addressing her as Sir Integra either. I thought the manga's artwork was unique, but it wasn't exactly my cup of tea either.  

 

So there you have it. I was rushing a bit, so sorry if it isn't to your liking. All opinions are mine, blah blah blah.

Peace out,

Joyce

{Blog Tour+Giveaway+Guest Post} Moon at Nine: Deborah Ellis

Welcome to Day 6 of the SECRETS OF MOON AT NINE BLOG TOUR, featuring Moon at Nine – a timely new YA novel from humanitarian and award-winning author Deborah Ellis. Each stop on the 2-week tour will feature revealing posts, a chance to win a copy of the novel, and a chance to enter the grand prize giveaway!

Secrets of a Storyteller

By Deborah Ellis

In Moon At Nine, Farrin is working on a demon-hunting story.  She finds parallels between the demons in her story and the demons she has to deal with every day in her life as a student and the daughter of difficult parents.

I think it was important for Farrin to write that story for a couple of reasons.  One, it gave her something bigger than herself to think about.  When all was going crazy around her, she could pretend to be on the outside of it, looking in, the way writers do.  She could set herself apart from the madding crowd and feel that she was untouched by it.  

The other thing the story did for her was to help her sort it all out.  We tell each other stories in order to try to understand the world—at least, that is why I write!  The world is a big confusing mess, and by writing about it, we can sort it into a series of events that have logic and reason and cause and effect behind them.  

The real demons in Moon At Nine were far worse than anything Farrin could dream up in her imagination, which is usually the case.  Farrin also had control over the demons she wrote about.  In real life, the best she could do was hope and dream and rely on luck and whatever internal strength she could muster.

In art, we can make life work out the way we want it to.  All my characters are braver, stronger and more confident than I am.  They are who I hope to one day be.

***

Enter below to win a copy of Moon at Nine!

***Stop by AmithaKnight.com tomorrow for the next stop on the SECRETS OF MOON AT NINE BLOG TOUR and another chance to win!***

Secrets of Moon at Nine Blog Tour Schedule:

April 28th: Buried in Books

April 29th: Candace's Book Blog

April 30th: VVB32Reads

May 1st: Read Now Sleep Later

May 2nd: LiveToRead

May 5th: Loving the Language of Literacy

May 6th: AmithaKnight.com

May 7th: From A to Z

May 8th: Manga Maniac Café

May 9th: Bookish

About Moon at Nine:

Fifteen-year-old Farrin has many secrets. Although she goes to a school for gifted girls in Tehran, as the daughter of an aristocratic mother and wealthy father Farrin must keep a low profile. It is 1988; ever since the Shah was overthrown, the deeply conservative and religious government controls every facet of life in Iran. If the Revolutionary Guard finds out about her mother’s Bring Back the Shah activities, her family could be thrown in jail or worse.

The day she meets Sadira, Farrin’s life changes forever. Sadira is funny, wise and outgoing; the two girls become inseparable. But as their friendship deepens into romance, the relationship takes a dangerous turn. It is against the law to be a homosexual in Iran; the punishment is death. Despite their efforts to keep their love secret, the girls are discovered and arrested. Separated from Sadira, Farrin can only pray as she awaits execution. Will her family find a way to save them both?

Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Deborah Ellis:

Deborah Ellis is the internationally acclaimed author of nearly thirty books for children and young people, most of which explore themes of social justice and courage. A peace activist, feminist, and humanitarian, Deborah has won many national and international awards for her books, including the Governor General’s Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award, the American Library Association’s Notable List and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. In 2010, she received the Ontario Library Association President’s Award for Exceptional Achievement. Deborah lives in Ontario, Canada.

GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY

At each stop along the tour, readers will have a chance to enter the grand prize giveaway.

The Prize: One winner will receive (1) a set of 10 Deborah Ellis books, and (2) Pajama Press will make a $100 donation in their name to one of five charities: Canadian Women 4 Women in Afghanistan, UNICEF Canada, Street Kids International, Leprosy Mission - Canada, or IBBY - Children in Crisis Fund. (You can learn more about these charities at stop #2 on the tour.)

The 10 books included in the prize pack are:

• Moon at Nine
• True Blue
• Looks Like Daylight: Voices of Indigenous Kids
• No Safe Place
• My name is Parvana
• Lunch With Lenin and Other Short Stories
• A Company of Fools
• Our Stories Our Songs: African Children Talk about AIDS,
• Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children speak
• Annaleise Carr: How I Conquered Lake Ontario to Help Kids Battling Cancer (By Annaleise Carr with Deborah Ellis)

US/Canada only please. Enter using the rafflecopter below! Ends May 12th at 11:59 pm EST.

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Check out my review of Moon at Nine, and be sure to enter the giveaway for a finished copy of the book.

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