Thanks for the questions everyone! I had a lot of fun answering them.

1. My local bookstore is selling ARC for half the price of the finished copies. I know they are not suppose to do this. What is the best way to tell them want they are doing is so wrong and that they are stealing money from the author? Hope you have a great day and thank you.

Oh this irks me!  Talk to a manager first.  Look at a few of the ARCs on the shelf and show them that it specifically says on the cover that it is not for sale (you might have to look for it but almost all of them say it somewhere).  If they don’t do anything, then you can tell the publisher.  The book belongs to the publisher and it’s up to them what to do.  I think selling ARCs is such a sleazy thing to do. I definitely wouldn’t support them as a store and you can tell them that when you confront them. If they don’t take you seriously, you can always call them out online like this blog did.

2. What’s your middle name and your favorite night time snack? My middle name is Mae and I love to snack on cookies lately. My two favorties right now are the Fig Newton Crunchy Lemon Cookies of Goodness and Biscoff the Spiced Cookies from Heaven.  They’re crunchy, not so sweet that they make me ill, and I can’t stop eating them

3. What are some of your favorite shows to watch? I only watch 3 TV shows on any kind of regular basis. The Big Bang Theory (but I’m waiting for the DVD to catch up with Season 5), Once Upon a Time, and Downton Abbey. I also really like the BBC version of Sherlock. And can I just vent a little here that Once Upon a Time isn’t coming out on DVD until August! It officially shattered my dreams of watching it all summer long.

What shows do you guys like to watch?

Today I have my first guest blogger for Series Theories! I’m so excited to have the lovely Kathryn from Clean Teen Fiction! 

I love trying to predict what is going to happen in a book.  I thought it would be fun to have some of my blogger friends write down their theories for any book – from the realistic to the crazy – and see if they’re right when it comes out!

Kathryn’s Series Theories for Reached by Ally Condie

The book I picked is Reached by Ally Condie. (Matched #3) *Spoilers ahead for the first two books in this series *

Since this is the last book of the series I predict that we’ll get a lot of answers.

• According to the beautiful covers, Cassia will finally break free from restraints and be able to “reach” her destiny by her own choices.
• Will Cassia and Ky be together or torn apart? I think the ending will be happy with the two together. I wish Xander could find someone, but I’m afraid he’ll still be in love with Cassia.
• We’ll get more of Xander’s background story since some of the chapters will be his POV. He’s been hiding a lot from Cassia. We’ll get a chance to see how smart and cunning he can be.
• With Xander and Cassia and others in the Rising on the inside, we’ll learn more about the Society. Who is really making all the decisions, and what are their weaknesses?
• The society will be taken down or at least majorly changed. People will be given choices again.
• For something heart wrenching, I’m afraid Indie might be killed doing something heroic or maybe Cassia’s dad. I hope not though. I especially hope Bram is safe at the end.

Great theories, Kathryn! I’m really excited to read from Xander’s view, too.  And I totally think that Ky and Cassia will end up together.

I asked Kathryn @ Clean Teen Fiction a few questions about herself and her blog.  It’s one of my favorite blogs and I read it every day.   Be sure to check it out!

Blogger Q & A

Hi Kathryn! What is your favorite book?

There are so many books I love! Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren is my favorite, the whole series actually.

What is your favorite song?

My favorite song changes pretty often with whatever is current on the radio. Right now What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction is my favorite pop song and A Woman Like You by Lee Brice is my favorite country song.

Where are you from, and what do you love about living there?

I’m from the Dallas/ Fort Worth Area in the great state of Texas! I live in a small town outside of the metro. I love that I get to drive by a field of sheep every day taking my son to school.

Tell us what makes your blog unique.

I feature “clean” teen fiction, books without sex or excessive language. Since there are a lot of definitions out there on what’s a clean book I have content ratings at the end of my reviews to let everyone make their own decisions.

Thank you so much for stopping by! If you want to do a guest post for this feature, just email me at booksatruestory@gmail.com

25 blogs have joined together to giveaway a Kindle Fire + a $50 Amazon gift card.  I’m really excited to be a part of this!  Big thank you to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer for putting this together.

Here’s the rules:

Giveaway is open to anyone 13 or older who can receive and use an Amazon.com Gift Card. If you live in the US you can choose to receive a $50 Amazon.com egift card and have us ship the Kindle Fire to you or you may choose to receive a $250 Amazon.com egift card and purchase the Kindle Fire yourself. If you live outside the US you will receive a $250 Amazon.com egift card.  All funds are in US dollars.
All entries must be done through the rafflecopter form. This giveaway is paid for and sponsored by the 25 participating blogs and is not associated with or sponsored by Facebook, Twitter or Amazon. Giveaway runs from 12:01 AM EST on May 15, 2012 until 11:59 PM on May 30, 2012.

Have fun and good luck!

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Mailbox Monday is where I show all the books I’ve gotten by various means throughout the week. Mailbox Monday was originally hosted by Marcia from A girl and her books and The Printed Page. This is a touring meme.  You can check out the main site for the full schedule.   May’s host is Martha’s Bookshelf.  Since I LOVE book cover art on my kindle, I took my own pictures of the covers of my ebooks.

Shayla Witherwood: A Half-Faerie Tale by Tamra Torero, For Review from Cedar Fort Publishing. Thank you!

Die for Me by Amy Plum, Bought from Amazon for only $1.99

The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide by Rick Riordan, Bought at the book signing in Provo.

Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein, Bought from Amazon for only $1.99 (it’s still on sale!)

City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare, Bought from Amazon.

Curly Girl: The Handbook by Lorraine Massey, Borrowed from my library.

What books did you get this week? Leave me a link and I’ll come look!

I’ve been wanting to interact more with you guys that read my blog, so I thought I’d do an ask box. You can ask me anything – books, blogging, music, movies, my super-duper exciting life in Utah…whatever you want.  You can ask anonymously if you want or you can add your name at the end.  I will compile all the questions and post the answers to them next week.

Have fun!

When I read, I ask a LOT of questions.  Here’s some stuff I searched or wondered about while reading Hold Me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride.

The Setting

Here’s the Young Adult ebook deals for May.  Enjoy!

(If you’re reading this in a reader, head over to my blog to see them)

Free

$0.99

$1.99

$2.99

For more ebook deals, see 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or less

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you found some killer deals

Series: Necromancer #1

Hold Me Closer, Necromancer was like The Sixth Sense meets Paranormalcy. It’s creepy in a funny way. At first, I felt spine-tingling horror at this one scene but when I was telling my mom about it the next day I realized that it was actually kind of funny when I wasn’t reading late at night in the dark…

I liked the author’s sarcastic style of humor. I highlighted a bunch of lines that made me laugh like this one:

“In fact, if you told most people that the White House was being run by the legions of the undead, they’d probably just say, ‘Figures.’”

The main character Sam is 18 so he faces a lot of college type challenges in his life which I liked a lot, but it made some of the scenes not quite YA. In the midst of the humor and horror I was surprised to see some beautiful and poignant moments. On top of that, the story was full of fun pop culture references that made me laugh and feel smart when I got them.  It did an amazing job of covering such a wide emotional range.  The villan seriously creeped me out. He was calculating, powerful, and psycho all at the same time. Well done. I loved reading about necromancers.  It’s a supernatural character that hasn’t been done much in YA before.  All of the characters were so fun and relatable.  My favorite character has to be 70 year-old Mrs. Winalski who lives next door to Sam and hints none-too-lightly that he should get out more – like she does.

Overall, it was one of those books that had me flipping pages late into the night. I don’t read horror novels, but this is one of the very few horror novels that I actually liked. I’m so glad I picked this one up and I can’t wait to read the next one.

Content Rating: Medium, for some language, a suggestive scene (but no details) and some violence.

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I saw Laurie at Pure Imagination to a to-read vlog and I thought it looked like so much fun. So here is my first ever vlog!

Books mentioned:

Return to Exile by E.J. Patten (Amazon | Goodreads)

The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide by Rick Riordan (Amazon | Goodreads)

Paradise Lost by Milton (Amazon | Goodreads)

Paradise Lost in Plain English (Amazon | Goodreads)

The Mortal Instrument Series Books #1-3 by Cassandra Clare (Amazon | Goodreads)

Destined by Aprilynne Pike (Amazon | Goodreads)

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Amazon | Goodreads)

Upcoming May Events

Spring Blog Carnival

• What: The Spring Blog Carnival is a giveaway hop with fun themed giveaways and challenges.  There are 50+ blogs signed up!
• Where: Hosted by Pure Imagination, Angela from Reading Angel, and Candace from Candace’s Book Blog.
• When: May 7-13, 2012

Fated by Alyson Noel Book Signing

• What: New York Times bestselling young adult fiction writer Alyson Noel will read from and sign her novel, Fated, the first in her new series, The Soul Seekers.
• Where: The King’s English (1511 South 1500 EastSalt Lake City, Utah)
• When: May 30, 2012 at 7 pm.

Armchair BEA

• What: A conference for book bloggers from the comfort of their own chair.
• Where: Hosted by Armchair Bea.
• When: June 4-8, 2012

Congratulations!

The winner of The Vicious Deep swag is….Dovile!

The winner of The Hunter’s Mother-Daughter bracelet is….Robert!

The winner of April’s Dusty Bookshelf giveaway is….Denise!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and entered! I’ve contacted all the winners via email.

"Pharaoh" of the Provo City Library introduces Rick Riordan

I just got back from the Rick Riordan signing and it was so much fun!  I’m going to just highlight my favorite parts of the event because Channel 17 in Provo is actually broadcasting it online next week if you want to watch it yourself.  Rick Riordan is the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Percy Jackson Series, The Heroes of Olympus Series, and The Kane Chronicles.  The Percy Jackson series is a modern version of Greek mythology, The Heroes of Olympus series is a modern version of Roman mythology, and the Kane Chronicles is a modern version of Egyptian mythology.  They are all amazing and well written middle grade fiction.

Rick started off talking about how when Percy Jackson was still being published, he came out to Provo and he was used to like 50 people coming to his signings but 100s of people came when he got here in Provo.  ”Ever since then – Provo is awesome!” he said.  When his publishers asked if he wanted to go back to Provo he said “Absolutely!” Provo is one of the lucky stops on his eight city tour.  And Provo was the only library on the tour.  Utah loves to support authors!

Rick Riordan - Author Rockstar

Funniest story ever – As a young teenager he tried to get a story published in a magazine.  He got a rejection letter after a few months.  His mom was so proud that he got rejected that she framed it.  When he was in college his mother’s house burned down to nothing – except for his rejection letter.  His mother reframed his rejection letter and it’s still hanging in her house.

No wait! This is the funniest story ever – Before Rick wrote middle grade fiction, he wrote some adult murder mysteries.  He was a school teacher and one of his students asked him one day if they could read his book and write a report on it. Rick said, “No! That’s not appropriate! There’s violence and bad language…”  Every kid in the classroom got a gleeful smile on their face.  ”Really??”  So all the kids in his class went out and bought the book and highlighted all the bad words.  Then they asked him why he didn’t write books for kids.  Rick thought that was a pretty good point.

He didn’t write the Percy Jackson series until he started telling his son mythology stories at bedtime.  When he ran out of greek myths to tell, his son asked him to make some up.  So Rick made up a character that had ADHD and dyslexia, like his son did, and said that having those was a characteristic of being a demi-god.

Rick took some questions from some cute kids who had dressed up with cool Egyptian and Greek outfits.  My favorite question was from an adorable 10 year old boy in an orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt.

Kid: “Why do Zeus and Ra have a truce?” Meaning, they are the top Gods of each of the mythologies so why aren’t they fighting.  Rick said it’s really hard to surprise him with a question and no one had ever asked him that.  I thought the kid was pretty smart.  Rick said that they co-exist and don’t interact much.  They might not even know about each other.

He didn’t do a signing line, so my book wasn’t personalized (and I didn’t get a picture with him), but I got a cool signed copy of The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide.  He got to the school at 5:30 and signed 1000 books which I thought was very awesome of him.  I had the hardest time picking a book to giveaway to you guys but I figured all his books are so good that I can’t go wrong! I ended up getting The Lost Hero which is the first book in the Heroes of Olympus series.  I read it last year and loved it.

Giveaway

Fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter to win a SIGNED hardcover of The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan.

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