I'd like to brag about how amazing bookstagrammers are because they make me feel so loved on a daily basis and I really want to give that love back to them! 😘 So...I've developed a little segment to my blog called "The Bookstagrammer Ballads." This Monday I am featuring my darling and sweet friend, @beauty_in_books17!! Meet Yonia @beauty_in_books17!Why did you decide to start a Bookstagram? Pretty much my love for books and photography. What is your favorite genre? Fantasy and contemporary What are you currently reading? I’m currently reading After by Anna Todd. One of my friends raves about this book so I want to see why she loves it so much. What is your biggest fear? Spiders and heights. What are your hobbies outside of Bookstagram? Spending time with my family, traveling, watching movies and crafts. What's your favorite color, movie, song, band, TV show, food, animal? Favorite Color: Blue Favorite movie: Any done by Tim Burton Favorite song: Waving through a Window by Benj Pasek Favorite Band: My Chemical Romance Favorite TV Show: Friends & Supernatural( I’m so sad that it’s Ending) Favorite Food: Pizza Favorite Animal: I love all animals. Who are your Top 5 favorite characters in literature? Rhysand Lazlo Strange Neville longbottom Nathaniel Hawthorne Lou Le Blanc What do you love about being a bookstagrammer? I love that I get to express myself everyday through my pictures and share my opinions and not be judged. I also love all the wonderful people I have met. List some bookstagrammers that have inspired you on this bookish journey! @paperroyaltyy @the_bookish_ballad @literaryxqueen @bookdashley @johanna.rose.reads What are some important things you've learned as a bookstagrammer? Be Yourself and express yourself how you want. In the end of the day it’s you showing how much you love books through the beautiful pictures you take. Because yes they’re beautiful. Follow Yonia on Instagram at @beauty_in_books17!! Be sure to check out my stories on Instagram @the_bookish_ballad all week for a more interactive feature and get to know Yonia more. Next Monday, I'm singing the ballad of @bookishbellee! Stay tuned...
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I'd like to brag about how amazing bookstagrammers are because they make me feel so loved on a daily basis and I really want to give that love back to them! 😘 So...I've developed a little segment to my blog called "The Bookstagrammer Ballads." This Monday I am featuring Kate @a.readeresque.diary, a wonderful person and a new friend!!! Meet Kate @a.readeresque.diary!Why did you decide to start a Bookstagram? I started my account in June 2019 and I had only a few things in mind. First of all, I needed to expand my reading horizons, get out of my fantasy comfort zone and find new books and authors. Second, I love photography and bookstagram gave me a reason to "click" more often than usual. And third, I love to talk and fangirl and gasp and sigh over characters and scenes and quotes. I've found so many amazing people and some have become friends to which I talk daily. What is your favorite genre? Fantasy with a touch of sci-fi and historical fiction now and then. I also enjoy a good autobiography. What are you currently reading? I'm rereading "Aurora Rising" by my favourite dangerous duo, Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. I won an ARC for "Aurora Burning" in a Fairyloot giveaway and I needed to refresh my memory (while secretly enjoying Kal's presence again). What's your favorite color, movie, song, band, TV show, food, animal, etc? Color: dark tones of blue and green. Movie: Pride and prejudice 2005 Song: Snow Patrol - Chasing cars Band: Maroon 5 TV Show: FRIENDS - I'm also a kdrama lover Food: pizza/pasta Animal: anything fluffy Season: Autumn What is your biggest fear? Ending up alone. Getting old and having no one there for me. Who are your Top 5 favorite characters in literature? 1. Elizabeth Bennet 2. Sherlock Holmes 3. Hercule Poirot 4. Aibileen Clark 5. Dracula What do you love about being a bookstagrammer? The people I've met, the books and authors I have discovered (90% of my last read books), all the amazing small shops and artists I have bought or will buy from and the freedom of voicing my own thoughts, without being scared of being laughed at. What are your hobbies outside of Bookstagram? I love to spend time with my family, listen to music, travel, I sometimes dive into DIY territory (I make my own pin hoops and I also bought a sewing machine for other things, bookish and non bookish), go to concerts, watch tennis (Roger Federer fan) or go to race car events. List some bookstagrammers that have inspired you on this bookish journey! @sabisbooks @bookfairy95 @booksandtheblacktea @teacupbooks_ @br.enda @bookish.bones @book_dragon06 @paperfury @ve_xo What are some important things you've learned as a bookstagrammer? Every opinion may be different but each and every one matters, it costs nothing to be kind. There's a big world out there and we are but one letter of this planet's book, but each letter can change the meaning of a word, as such, can influence the outcome of our story. "Have courage and be kind." Follow Kate on Instagram at @a.readeresque.diary!! Be sure to check out my stories on Instagram @the_bookish_ballad all week for a more interactive feature and get to know Kate more. Next Monday, I'm singing the ballad of @beauty_in_books17! Stay tuned... Hi everyone! Today I’m excited to participate in the cover reveal of THE QUEEN OF VEILS by S. Usher Evans. This is the final installment in the Princess Vigilante series releasing on March 31st, 2020 from Sun’s Golden Ray Publishing! It's also my first tour with MTMC Tours and I'm floating on cloud nine right now, so that you for the opportunity to be a tour host for this incredible series...I'M HONORED! The City of Veils SynopsisFor the past three years, Brynna has been patrolling the streets of Forcadel as a masked vigilante, protecting the innocent and beating up bad guys. Her current target is Lord Beswick, a slumlord businessman who keeps the townsfolk in a vicious poverty cycle. But one fateful evening, she's captured by Felix, the captain of the king's guard, and told a shocking truth: her father and brother are dead, and she needs to hang up her mask and become queen. Before long, she negotiates a deal with Felix: attend to her royal duties during the day and continue her vigilante mission to take out Lord Beswick at night - at least until her coronation. But the politics of Forcadel are as volatile as the streets, and Brynna isn't sure whom she can trust in the castle. With two royals dead in less than a month, she must use all her wits to make sure she isn't the third. About The Queen of VeilsTitle: The Queen of Veils Series: Princess Vigilante #4 Author: S. Usher Evans Publishing Date: March 31st, 2020 Publisher: Sun’s Golden Ray Publishing Genres: YA Epic Fantasy Preorder: Amazon | B&N | QOV’s Website Add on Goodreads! The final installment in the spellbinding Princess Vigilante series takes readers back to the city of Forcadel as Brynna makes her final play to reclaim her kingdom. Full of twists and turns, this final book will keep readers guessing until the very end. A Note from the AuthorThe cover artist is Jo Painter (IG – @po_jainter) I wanted to have a transition from Brynna wearing the mask and holding the crown to actually wearing the crown. This was a lot simpler when it was a two, then three book series. But when I realized it was four (RIP my soul), Jo and I had to noodle through some ideas. I love the way all four covers look together, and hope to work with Jo sometime in the future (perhaps for the spin-off!). International Cover Reveal Giveaway!Head over to my Instagram account @the_bookish_ballad to enter the cover reveal day giveaway to win a paperback copy of any book in the series. There will be 2 winners! (And check the hashtag #TheQueenofVeilsCoverReveal to get in more entries!) About the AuthorS. Usher Evans was born and raised in Pensacola, Florida. After a decade of fighting bureaucratic battles as an IT consultant in Washington, DC, she suffered a massive quarter-life-crisis. She decided fighting dragons was more fun than writing policy, so she moved back to Pensacola to write books full-time. She currently resides with her two dogs, Zoe and Mr. Biscuit, and frequently can be found plotting on the beach. Evans is the author of the Demon Spring Trilogy, the Razia Series, the Madion War Trilogy, the Lexie Carrigan Chronicles, and Empath. Website | Twitter | Goodreads | InstagramIt has been such a dream to work with Wednesday Books for the Foul is Fair Blog Tour! I'm sending so many hugs to them for asking me to be a part of this tour and providing me with an ARC of this fabulous book! In this blog post you will get my review, an original picture I took for Instagram, and an excerpt that will instantly hook you and and haunt you until you buy Foul is Fair. ENJOY! ReviewWhere do I even begin? Let's start with five deliciously bloody stars given to Hannah Capin's thrilling revenge fantasy novel, Foul is Fair! My English major soul fainted when I found out this book is a modern retelling of William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth. Every sentence in Foul is Fair stole the breath from lungs. I could feel power radiating off Hannah Capin's words as she crafted a story for every girl who ever wanted revenge. This book is written for the girls who have had enough. Golden boys beware: something wicked this way comes. Jade and her friends Jenny, Mads, and Summer rule their glittering LA circle. Untouchable, they have the kind of power other girls only dream of. Every party is theirs and the world is at their feet. Until the night of Jade's sweet sixteen, when they crash a St. Andrew’s Prep party. The night the golden boys choose Jade as their next target. They picked the wrong girl. Sworn to vengeance after what they did to her, Jade transfers to St. Andrew’s Prep. She plots to destroy each boy, one by one. She'll take their power, their lives, and their control of the prep school's hierarchy. And she and her coven have the perfect way in: a boy named Mack, whose ambition could turn deadly. Foul is Fair has prose so whimsical and manic I could feel the blood boil deep within my veins with rage from short sentences that felt like Jade stabbed a shiny knife in my heart. Or perhaps I should say she used a defibrillator because I've never felt more alive when reading a book. It was invigorating and made me feel a little less alone. Hannah Capin makes evil thoughts look breathtakingly beautiful. After Jade is drugged and raped on her sixteenth birthday at the St. Andrew's Prep party, she becomes something more as she says, "I'm the huntress and she's the kill and she knows it now, too late to do anything...."Avenger"....I am exactly the wrong way to be a victim." Jade develops an alternate personality: one that seeks vengeance of the murderous kind. "You picked the wrong girl." Readers watch as Jade morphs into this beautifully powerful and manipulative creature and they will love her for it. Her coven consists of Summer, Mads, and Jenny and they are right by Jade's side aiding her revenge plots. I love them even more as she describes them: "My beautiful coven. My flock, but instead of starlings they're falcons with wings that turn the whole sky dark." Jade instantly forgives them for leaving her alone at the St. Andrew's party because she needs their help even when she says she doesn't need anybody. I love her coven even more for being Jade's accomplices. I even wanted to be a part of her coven, standing side-by-side with her, fighting for every girl taken advantage of and left feeling powerless by boys who think they're kings and can get away with anything. The courageous way Jade faces the people who sought to ruin her, body and soul, is refreshing. She had enough courage to stand up for the old Jade and all the girls like her by getting close to her enemies and forcing their kingdom to crumble from the inside. I especially love when Jade says, "It's a ruined kingdom that we rule but I wouldn't have it any other way." As a side note, I HAVE to tell you that the theme song for Foul is Fair is "Royals" by Lorde. I'm over here jamming to this song as I write this review and imagining a St. Andrew's prep music video featuring Jade standing under the Virgin Mary statue in the front hall surrounded by the flock-girls and glaring at all the people she's about to destroy. Capin did a wonderful job making me feel shocked the entire book. At one point I was jittery, rubbing my hands together smiling over Jade's murderous rage but towards the middle of the book I was incredibly nervous and hoping she would stop this vendetta because it had gotten so far out of control. However, Capin is always there to remind you that Duncan, Duffy, Banks, Malcolm, Connor, and Piper had no remorse for what they did to Jade, what they did to other girls before her, and the outcome of this tragic tale was inevitable but I would be a fool to reveal it to you now. You'll just have to go read it for yourself! There's a lesson delicately wrapped up for us on a silver platter in Foul is Fair. Hannah Capin really focuses on the people who know enough of what is going on but do nothing to stop it. Seeing something bad happen right before your eyes and choosing to let it happen is the true evil in this story. Our choices to not help a girl who has been given a date rape drug, or someone being harassed on public transportation, it's negligent and it will lead to our downfall. I'm going to let you in on a secret: I am extremely afraid of "innocent" bystanders. Those people that see bad things happen and do absolutely nothing. This immense fear takes over me even if I'm safe and cozy in my home, snuggled up with a book. A lot of bad things happen to good people and it's statistically proven that no one is going to lift a finger to help them. The thought terrifies me. And it should terrify you, too. Blurbs"Fierce, vicious, and electric. If books had teeth, Foul Is Fair would have fangs. Capin's language glitters dark and her writing cuts deep. Revenge is a dish best served by this deliciously unapologetic coven." - Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, author of Firsts and Last Girl Lied To "Capin’s writing will seduce you with its beauty and then, when you least suspect it, slice you to the bone—just like Foul is Fair’s captivating, vicious, entirely unforgettable heroine, Jade." - Layne Fargo, author of Temper and co-host of Unlikeable Female Characters Podcast “Vicious and beautifully brutal, Foul is Fair gives a sword to every girl who has ever been a victim and makes them a warrior. This book is pulls no punches and will make anyone think twice before uttering the phrase ‘just a girl’. An unapologetic feminist battle-cry that leaves you breathless and thirsting for vengeance.” - Sonia Hartl, author of Have a Little Faith in Me "Foul is Fair delivers the story of a girl who snatches control back from a world that stole it away, through whatever means necessary. Hannah Capin deftly combines stunningly lyrical prose with the raw power of engulfing fury, sending a message written in blood. In a world where too many are forced into silence, this book roars back." - S. Gonzales, author of The Law of Inertia and Only Mostly Devastated Read an ExcerptOrder a Copy Today!Here is the link to purchase: https://wednesdaybooks.com/the-real-deal/foul-is-fair/ About the AuthorHANNAH CAPIN is the author of Foul is Fair and The Dead Queens Club, a feminist retelling of the wives of Henry VIII. When she isn’t writing, she can be found singing, sailing, or pulling marathon gossip sessions with her girl squad. She lives in Tidewater, Virginia. Follow Hannah Capin (@tldaaollf) on Instagram & Twitter. I am absolutely thrilled to partner with Harlequin Books and their imprint, Mira Books, for their Winter 2020 Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour to give you an inside look at the prologue of The Unwilling and an exciting Q&A with Kelly Braffet!! A penetrating tale of magic, faith and pride... The Unwilling is the story of Judah, a foundling born with a special gift and raised inside Highfall castle along with Gavin, the son and heir to Lord Elban's vast empire. Judah and Gavin share an unnatural bond that is both the key to her survival... and possibly her undoing. As Gavin is groomed for his future role, Judah comes to realize that she has no real position within the kingdom, in fact, no hope at all of ever traveling beyond its castle walls. Elban - a lord as mighty as he is cruel - has his own plans for her, for all of them. She is a mere pawn to him, and he will stop at nothing to get what he wants. But outside the walls, in the starving, desperate city, a magus, a healer with his own secret power unlike anything Highfall has seen in years, is newly arrived from the provinces. He, too, has plans for the empire, and at the heart of those plans lies Judah... The girl who started life with no name and no history will soon uncover more to her story than she ever imagined. An epic tale of greed and ambition, cruelty and love, this deeply immersive novel is about bowing to traditions and burning them down. Add The Unwilling to your TBR on Goodreads HERE! Read an ExcerptQ&A with Kelly BraffetQ: The Unwilling is your fourth published book. How are you feeling? Is the excitement from the first book still running high with your fourth? A: It’s my fourth published book, but it’s my first fantasy novel, so it feels a little like my first novel! Obviously some of the mechanics of having a book out are more familiar (like blog tours!), but it’s hard to not be anxious about a book release. This is a huge project; I’ve been working on it for twenty years, and will hopefully be working on it for several more. Right now I’m really just trying to immerse myself in writing the sequel so I don’t spend too much time obsessing about the first one. Q: The Unwilling is different from anything you’ve ever written. Why the change in genre, and what was the inspiration? Were there any challenges that came about from writing in a new genre? A: I’ve always been a fantasy reader, and I do mean always. I remember bringing my parents’ copy of Lord of the Rings to school in second grade - mostly because it had a cool spooky cover, but still. The first ideas I ever had for stories were for fantasy, and in fact The Unwilling was the first novel I ever seriously tried to write. After my last novel, Save Yourself, came out, I spent about a year and a half working on another crime novel that just never took off, and when I finally gave up on it my agent suggested I try to write a draft of the fantasy novel I’d been talking about forever. I’ll always be grateful to her for that, because one of the things holding me back had been the concern that she wouldn’t be interested. As far as challenges go, I think there’s a tendency in fantasy novels to go a bit lofty with language, and I didn’t escape that. This sounds silly, but in the early chapters, I had to remind myself to use contractions, which is a problem I never had when writing about a guy who works in a convenience store. And so much of our language comes from technology that doesn’t exist in Highfall - light switches, computers, telephones - that I had to really think about the words and images I used to make sure that they weren’t anachronistic, although I’m sure a few anachronisms slipped in. I also did a lot of thinking about the mechanics of everyday life; do they have plumbing? Where does their coffee come from? What happens when they get sick? We don’t think much about those things in contemporary life, but we probably should. Q: What is your favorite under-appreciated novel and why? A: I’m not sure exactly what’s considered under-appreciated, so here are some books that I’m baffled don’t have more Goodreads reviews. There’s a wonderful series by Nathan Larson called The Dewey Decimal System, which is about a man who lives in post-apocalyptic New York City and has taken it as his duty to protect the NYPL. Things don’t go as planned. All three of the books are incredibly fun. Adam Christopher’s Ray Electromatic Mysteries are just a joy, particularly for somebody who loves a good genre-bender as much as I do. Science fiction and classic-style noir? Sign me up. Beth Lewis wrote a great novel a few years ago called The Wolf Road, which is an amazing (also post-apocalyptic!) road novel with a twist that I still think about on a pretty regular basis. More people should definitely read that. And Jenni Fagan’s books are both amazing - The Pantopticon was just adapted for the stage by the National Theatre of Scotland, but I loved The Sunlight Pilgrims just as much. Also, why don’t more people read Louis Bayard? That baffles me. His YA novel, Lucky Strikes, made me weep with joy. Q: What does literary success look like to you and with that definition in mind, are you successful? A: The problem with success - and I’m sure this is true for every field, not just the literary - is that the goalposts are constantly moving. If you’d asked me this question when I was 22, literary success would have been signing with an agent. At 25, it would have been getting a book published. My personal goal with every book has been, first, to publish the best book I could possibly write, and second, to sell enough copies of said book that somebody will be willing to publish the next one. I mean, look: who doesn’t want to sell a gajillion copies and win all the prizes? But at this point in my career, I feel like the next goalpost is to feel confident that I’ll be able to sell the next book, whatever it is. Q: Out of all your writings, published and unpublished, which is your favorite? A: My favorite book is always the one I haven’t written yet. Which is kind of a joke, but also kind of serious: the ones that only exist in my head are still all shiny and full of potential. It’s hard to look at the ones that I’ve already written and not see the things I didn’t manage to do. I am still pretty proud of Save Yourself, although there are aspects of it that I wish I’d written differently. Honestly, I think The Unwilling is the most fully realized. I would say that I love the sequel I’m working on right now even more, but it’s still at that awkward stage where it all feels rough and terrible. (I think most writers will agree that it’s incredibly difficult to go from a very polished piece of work to a rough draft!) Q: What has been the most difficult thing about writing not just this book, but a book with cross over potential geared towards young adults? A: Honestly, this is going to sound like one of those canned answers, but I don’t really think about that when I’m writing. (Maybe I should!) I just write the story in the way that feels true, and trust that we’ll all be able to figure out the marketing afterward. I will say that there was a moment early on when I was talking to my agent about crossover potential, and I said that I was fine with it as long as I didn’t have to cut anything, content-wise. Fortunately YA today is a pretty broad and forgiving umbrella, so that wasn’t a concern. Lots of writers will rail against labels like YA - or thrillers, or literary fiction. Honestly, I want my books to go on the shelves where my readers are most likely to find them, and the more shelves, the merrier! When I was an actual young adult, I read adult fiction. My mother, whose adult bonafides are without question, reads young adult fiction. Everything is for everyone. Q: What advice would you give to new and even experienced authors? A: Actually, I was just talking with an author friend yesterday about this very thing. The only advice I have - and experienced authors know this, but most of us have to be reminded occasionally - is that the only way to write a book is to write it. I meet so many people who, when they hear I’m a writer, will tell me with enormous enthusiasm about their awesome book idea; and that’s great! Awesome book ideas are awesome! But you actually have to write the book - the entire book - and then you have to write it over again four or five times. That’s the hardest part. (Also, have a trusted love one screen your internet reviews, and only read you the ones that are laudatory or hilarious. But if a negative review should cross your path and break your heart, I suggest looking up a book you loved on one of the book sites, and reading that book’s bad reviews. It will be baffling, and it might make you feel better.) (Also, don’t let bad reviews break your heart. It’s an opinion. Life goes on.) About the AuthorKELLY BRAFFET is the author of the novels Save Yourself, Last Seen Leaving and Josie & Jack. Her writing has been published in The Fairy Tale Review, Post Road, and several anthologies. She attended Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA in Creative Writing at Columbia University. She currently lives in upstate New York with her husband, the author Owen King. A lifelong reader of speculative fiction, the idea for The Unwilling originally came to her in college; twenty years later, it’s her first fantasy novel. Visit her at kellybraffet.com. Follow her on Twitter over at @KellyBraffet. Order a Copy Today!Oblong Books - For SIGNED, personalized pre-orders!
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