Sunday Post #16- An awesome reading week

The Sunday Post was created by Caffeniated Book Reviewer this is a post where we recap on the going on's on the blog the week previous and the week coming up as well as the awesome books we have received, bought or been gifted for review!

This week has been great.....

This week has been a great week. Firstly I read 4 books. Guys I never read 4 books in a week. I am such a slow reader but they where great books so I think that's why I read them so fast. Your thinking what where those great books I read. 

First of I read the last 50 Shades book it was a 're read and I love this series if you didn't already know. Then I read Thing's My Heart Knows by Jessi Kirby, this was my most anticipated book of the year and my first Jessi Kirby book. And I really enjoyed. I then picked up My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga. I wasn't sure when I started reading if I was going to be really immersed in the story but after the first few chapters I couldn't stop reading it. It was really good. Finally I read The Echanted Rose by Nadia Nader for a blog tour. I read this book in a few hours it was quick and a good read, my review will be up this week as part of the tour. So it's been an awesome reading week. I hope I can keep this reading pace up. However am currently 're reading a series again, which I seem to do every few books so I may be stuck with these books for a week :/ but I can't complain as again I love the series am 're reading. I definitely have a 're reading obsession.

On the blog...

This week I had a couple of guest posts which I haven't had in a while. The first was a Behind the scenes of Angels of Moirai by Nicole Salmond, this is a YA book with angels and it sounds good. You can check out more about it here and also enter to win an ebook of Angels of Moirai.

On Friday author Sarah Noffke talked about being a late YA bloomer. It shows you are never too old to fall in love with YA. Sarah also kindly offered a giveaway I

of her YA Book Awoken, you can enter to win a copy here

You can check out all the other posts from this week by clicking on the side bar.

Check Out My Current Giveaways

In other news...

As you may have noticed over my last few Sunday Posts I was freaking out over Arrow. I am obsessed with the TV show and this week was the season finale and it was just perfect. #Olicity I have never hearted and cheered on a couple so much. I can't wait for season four. Also the trailer for Legends of Tomorrow on the CW dropped and it looks so so good. 2016 seems so far away. I love D.C. and Marvel, I tend to lean more toward D.C. but I just love super heroes. 

Now for some new music I discovered:

I love music as well as books, obviously not as much as books but it's something I get obsessed with if I love a song or a band. For the last few Sunday's I have been telling you about songs I love on my Sunday Post. I am going to keep doing this every week. So my question to you is do you want me to keep putting it in this post or a separate post?

I love this song. The video is pretty strange but the song is awesome.

I never thought I would like this. But I love it. It's a catchy song.

Photograph by Ed Sheeran, enough said really. His voice is incredible, this video made me smile and this song is just going to become another classic.

Kinda can't stop listening to this. 

To the books...

*FREE ebooks*

Unsolicited VIA Chicken House, middle grade fantasy releasing June 2015 *paperback*

Yay so I haven't seen the TV show but I kinda want to pick up the book am not sure when I will get to it but hell, why not add it to my book shelf. *paperback*

So this is my favourite book series ever. And I have a paperback of the first book, and hardback of the second and third. So I want to have a paperback and hardback set. Yesterday I bought the paperback of the last book. So all I need now is a paperback of Shadow of night and hardback of A discovery of witches. Yay am obsessed with this series *paperback*

*Love my new vase*

Reading Away The Days is affiliated with Book Depository please consider using my link to purchase books all profits will be put back into the blog. Click here

How was your week? What books did you get?

Guest Post: Late YA Bloomer by Sarah Noffke #Giveaway

Amazon|Goodreads

When sixteen-year-old Roya Stark attends a dinner party she hardly expects to be drugged, much less told by the host that she’s a special race of human with incredible abilities. Then she follows his orders, closes her eyes and enters a different world. And meets a leader of secret society who promises that his people can protect her.

This is Roya’s first meeting while dream traveling. Within forty-eight hours Roya is pulled into the mysterious world of the Lucidites with a vengeance. By that time her family has already fallen victim to violent hallucinations and the dark figure has dared to approach closer at night, hovering just outside her window. When told her world is in danger and her fate is connected to greatness, Roya knows she has no choice but to seek refuge in the Lucidite Institute. The only catch is she’ll have to risk drowning to get there…

Roya thought she was just a weird teenager. Turns out she’s an extremely powerful Dream Traveler and her fate is to rid the world of a real nightmare. Captivating and mysterious, Awoken will take readers on an exciting voyage they will not soon forget.

Late YA Bloomer by Sarah Noffke

What literature inspired my own writing? What literature can I credit with inspiring my YA series, The Lucidites? All writers have to answer questions like these and I’m a little hesitant to divulge the truth here. 

I have a confession. As a child I didn’t read a lot. Yes, that’s right. I’m a writer who started off by breaking the cardinal rule. Everyone knows that to be a writer you have to be a reader first. The truth is, I wasn’t a very good reader. I didn’t have a learning disability, I just hadn’t fallen in love with literature yet. Still I had a crazy imagination and so without knowing anything about the craft I wrote furiously as a child, scribbling down plays, poetry and short stories in my treehouse.  And guess what? Because I hadn’t read a lot, my work sucked. Well, it probably also sucked because I was ten and a poor speller and had horrible grammar.  All of that changed though…very slowly.

I did start to read more as I grew up. Assigned reading lists. Poetry. Self-Help. Yes, that’s right I was reading Oprah’s recommended books for the soul before I’d even read my first MG or YA sci-fi fantasy. I think I was born forty and have regressed as I’ve grown up.

I’m about to make a confession that I hope doesn’t earn me too much ridicule. I didn’t read my first MG/YA novel until after I graduated from school…grad school, that is. With no more papers to write or textbooks to read, I was finally free. And somehow Dan Brown or Nelson DeMille didn’t appeal to me on a particular day. On that faithful day, a different book found its way into my hands. 

The Golden Compass. 

It’s the first book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials series. I don’t recall the words that sprang out of my mouth when I finished that book and quickly went on to the next, but I remember the feeling in my heart. Longing. I was inspired by this magical story and characters who weren’t my age, but rather a much more impressionable one. And I was envious of a writer who had used science and fantasy together to create an incredible series. That’s right. I was downright jealous. And when I finished that series I do remember thinking something very clearly: I want to write YA. 

And that’s where my love for YA started. I went on to read more. A lot more. At first I was a little jaded that I spent the first twenty-four years of my life reading books with characters who didn’t have special powers or magical tools. Don’t get me wrong, Jay Gatsby is a magical character in his own right, but he definitely doesn’t save the world or destroy a battlefield of monsters with his pet dragon. 

My love affair with YA fiction was the beginning of an important journey for me. It’s when my ideas really started to spin, the very same ideas that later would create my own series about a special race of people who dream travel. Whereas before my stories had flat characters with mundane missions, under the inspiration of YA literature they took on fantastical features. They came to life. I’m definitely a late bloomer when it comes to YA. But I’m grateful I did find my genre. It continues to inspire my writing. And Pullman’s tales continue to keep me striving to be a writer as half as excellent as him. 

Website|Facebook| @RealSarahNoffke

Giveaway

A kindle ebook of Awoken by Sarah Noffke. Open to anyone who can receive kindle eBooks

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Eve Brenner: zombie girl blog tour- Interview & #Giveaway

Note: *Giveaway exclusive to my blog.There is a tour wide giveaway at the end BUT if you want to win an ebook of Eve Brenner: Zombie Girl leave me a comment below. A random winner will be drawn June 2nd*

Interview with author  A. Giacomi 

1. Tell is a bit about yourself and your writing journey.

I’m proudly Canadian with an Italian background. I speak Italian fluently and wish I could say the same about French, but I’m a bit rusty. I’m a writer, an educator, and artist. I love to sketch and paint when I can, although these days time is harder to come by with a toddler running around. I’m a bit of Netflix addict, and have a need to binge watch everything and anything. I have many shows and films that I fangirl over. Especially The Walking Dead, I can’t get enough of it.

My writing journey started when I was in elementary school. I wrote poetry and stories in my journal everyday instead of writing about crushes and venting about pre-teen life. I continued this into adulthood and then a couple of years ago I decided it was time to try and get something published. I’ve had The Zombie Girl Saga brewing in my head since high school and I finally sat down to write it after having my son. I did for him since I was too afraid to do it for me. Here was this little guy all of a sudden and one day I would have to tell him to follow his dreams, and how could I do that without trying to reach some of my own? With that new inspiration I went at the series hard. Once the first book had been completed I sent it out to numerous publishers and agents. There is so much rejection that comes with anything creative. It’s subjective and these days the gates are flooded. There were some kind emails, great advice, but no takers until about a year had gone by. Then Permuted Press greeted me with a yes, and not only a yes, but a willingness to take on an entire series by an unknown author. To say I’m grateful is barely scratching the surface. 

2) Tell us a little about Zombie Girl

The story is told through multiple perspectives, Eve, our zombie girl, and her two best friends. I like the multiple angles because as Eve begins to transform we need others to help tell the tale of how the zombie becomes the zombie.

This story isn’t quite like other zombie stories; the focus is on the zombie and her struggle to remain human. The zombie mythology gets new origins that aren’t fully exposed until book 3, and Eve is not your typical zombie. She might be dead, but she’s powerful.

3) Where does the inspiration for Zombie Girl come from?

The character of Eve came to me in a dream back in high school. She started out as a sketch in one of my art books. I created her as an undead comic book superhero of sorts. At that time there weren’t many strong female characters in the spotlight, there was no Katniss, or Tris, or Bella…and as for the superhero world, women had been nothing more than sidekicks from time to time. I wanted so badly to have a female lead that could save the world on her own.

The story blossomed over time; I wanted her to be more relatable, and oddly enough more human. The story needed to be about someone losing their humanity, but gaining insight about what’s truly important in life, or after life.

Eve Brenner: Zombie Girl by A. Giacomi 

(The Zombie Girl Saga #1) 

Published by: Permuted Press

Publication date: January 25th 2015

Genres: New Adult, Paranormal, Zombies

Synopsis:

Eve used to be an ordinary girl, from an ordinary town, with ordinary dreams, but her dreams rapidly turn into nightmares when one grave mistake leaves her a little less than human and a lot less average.

Eve’s not quite the same girl she used to be. She desperately clings to her humanity as new desires, new abilities, and new urges take over with each passing day.

Eve Brenner: Zombie Girl is a tale that takes you on an emotional and terrifying journey as Eve struggles to cope with her new life and find a  cure for her strange illness before time runs out. She desperately clings to her humanity as she tries to control the monster she knows is lurking inside her.

Turns out living was the easy part.

Goodreads * Amazon * B & N

AUTHOR BIO:

A Giacomi is the author of the wildly entertaining Zombie Girl Saga, a four part series from Permuted Press. Eve Brenner: Zombie Girl is A. Giacomi’s debut novel. You can catch the latest updates about her writing on her blog: www.poeticzombie.com

A. Giacomi is a wife, and mother to one small human child. She is a Canadian born writer, educator, and artist. She proudly waves her York University Alumni flag and continues to thirst for knowledge and devour books. She is a zombie enthusiast, lover of all things Tim Burton, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Marvel, Star Wars and just generally just loves film, essentially she’s a fangirl.

Website * Facebook * Twitter

Tour-wide giveaway (US/CAN only)

• A Zombie Girl T-Shirt, ebook, pen, tote, notebook, and signed poster

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Behind the scenes- Angels of Moirai by Nicole Salmond & #Giveaway

Blurb VIA Amazon

Since man first walked the earth, the Angels of Moirai have watched over them. Born human, they are taught never to feel, never to become attached, and never to become emotionally compromised. 

Eighteen-year-old, Lila Kingston, is haunted by dreams of a mysterious angel. Suddenly, the dramas of her broken family and the snobby, rich kids at her school, fail in comparison to the challenges she must face. 

Hailing from the Angels of Moirai, James Taylor has been intrusted with the fate of lives from around the world for over a thousand years. His soul purpose is to ensure every mortal follows their designed path, but when Lila puts that very purpose at risk, he must make a choice, a choice that ultimately leads to devastating consequences of a love never meant to exist. 

The choice was never easy, those kind of choices never are..

Amazon * Kobo * B & N * Smashwords * Goodreads

Behind the scenes- Angels of Moirai

One of the most common questions I get asked when writing a book is what the process like when making a story idea into a published novel. For every author the process is unique, and for every book the process is also unique. Angels of Moirai is no exception in the unique way it was created. Here is a few steps I took to make the pages come to life.

1.       The Idea. Every story starts with an idea. It can be as simple as a scene you dreamt about, or drawing on a life experience. All my other books have been based around dreams I’ve had, Angels of Moirai is different though. I knew I wanted to start writing more books directed at young adults. This is one of my favourite genres and there is so much passion and drive in teenagers that I wanted to draw on that. It’s also a huge time for change emotionally, physically and mentally. Because no visions of a perfect storyline was coming to me I started writing notes down. It started with a simple idea- forbidden love. Why was it forbidden? Was it an epic love story of two souls never meant to be in love? What makes this story unique? From there the idea of an angel loving a human came to light, but he wasn’t just any ordinary angel, he was an angel of fate.

2.       The storyline. Once I had the main focus of my story decided upon I started looking into the characters and what made them so different and appealing (and sometimes not so appealing!). Once I started jotting ideas down the story-line started pouring out of me. I always have a notepad handy as I could be in the doctor’s office or about to go to sleep when the best ideas for my stories come to light. I have heaps of notebooks with scene ideas, quotes, etc. that help me throughout the whole journey of writing.

3.       Putting it all together. For Angels of Moirai I had a big whiteboard that started off as a timeline of events and quickly turned into a calendar with Lila’s class timetable added into it. Seeing it all in one place made it easy to see how each scene would fit together, and when writing a novel which is centered around teenagers, I had to ensure that if she was going to English class one morning, the next week she would be following the same schedule and not just doing random classes, especially at a private school!

4.       From start to finish. The first book I ever wrote, Forever Yours, I didn’t write it from start to finish. I wrote whatever scene I was feeling at the time. Looking back, I can see the flaws in this and felt like it doesn’t work. Writing a story from start to finish enables the characters to develop more and the story to change and adapt as its intended.

5.       Change is okay! Originally James and Lila never even shared a kiss until the very last scene in the book, but as I started writing I got to a point in the book when I felt like they needed to be together and so I had to change the story-line quite dramatically to accommodate for this. I was scared of the change, but quickly realised what a great decision it was. I also had planned on it being a stand-alone book until I was nearing ‘the end’ and I suddenly had a fantastic idea for a series- this change also involved me going back and added scenes and characters to make it work.

6.       Finished product. After the first draft I like to go back and flesh out scenes. Sometimes it’s only by a few sentences, sometimes it’s a whole chapter. I then send it to my beautiful sisters and best friend to give feedback before I send it off to my editor and begin the publishing process.

Writing is something I love to do, and hope to do it for many years to come. I write whenever I get the chance, and that isn’t always everyday as I have two young girls who require a lot of my attention!

I hope whoever picks Angels of Moirai up to read can relate to it in some way and love it just as much as I loved writing it! 

Nicole Salmonds Blog

Giveaway

An EBook of Angels Of Moirai by Nicole Salmond. Open to anyone who can receive eBooks.

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Waiting On Wednesday #35

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're excitably anticipating

Ink and Bone (The Great Library #1) by Rachel Caine

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Rachel Caine rewrites history, creating a dangerous world where the Great Library of Alexandria has survived the test of time. In 48 AD, a fire set by the troops of Julius Caesar destroyed much of the Great Library of Alexandria. It was the first of several disasters that resulted in the destruction of the accumulated knowledge of the ancient world. But what if the fire had been stopped? What would the Library have become? Fast forward: the Great Library is now a separate country, protected by its own standing army. It has grown into a vast power, with unquestioned and unrivalled supremacy. Jess Brightwell, seventeen and very smart, with a gift for mechanical engineering, has been sent into the Great Library as a spy for his criminal family. Magical spells and riots abound in this epic new YA series.

Blurb VIA Fantastic Fiction

Expected Publication: July 2015 VIA Allison and Busby

Why I am waiting?

I read most of Rachel Caines Morganville Vampire Series last year and loved them. I am excited to read some more from the author. This book sounds good and am lucky to have a proof to read. 

What are you waiting on?

#Review An Island Of Our Own by Sally Nicholls

Book: An Island Of Our Own

Author: Sally Nicholls

Pages:216

Publisher: Scholastic

Format: Paperback Proof

Received for an honest review

Rating:  ✪✪✪

Goodreads * Book Depository Affiliate Link

First of I need to thank Sally Nicholls for making me connect with a young protagonist, this is something I am struggling with lately, it's  probably because am getting old LOL but I am happy to say I connected with Holly in An Island Of Our Own. 

An Island Of Our Own is such a good read with a heavy message on family. Holly and her two brothers go on a journey that was great to be part of.  Holly's parents have bothed passed away and her older brother who is just 19 years old, looks after her and her little brother. They are struggling financially and struggle for lots of things. But they have this eccentric great aunt who passes away and leaves them some jewellery but no one knows where it is as her aunt didn't trust anyone, not even her own family. Thus begins Holly's treasure hunt to find the jewellery and then maybe everything will be better. 

The journey Holly goes on is funny and thought provoking. The will to keep going to investigate and find this treasure can only be done by a determined young girl, a girl that still thinks like a girl, who can hope and dream and not give up. This is a modern treasure hunt using technology to find clues to where it could possibly be which I loved, it felt so fresh and new. Both Holly's aunt and Brother are inventors and I loved the place they went to called the maker space where there where loads of crazy eccentric inventors, it was so cool.

Overall An Island Of Our Own was a good read with likeable characters and its a book with a good message of family and friends and making a home out if what you have and who you have, an Island of your very own.

Ten Authors I Really Want To Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is an original/weekly meme hosted by The broke and the bookish.

This weeks Topic: Ten Authors I Really Want To Meet

From top to bottom- left to right

* Charlaine Harris- Everyone who knows me and if you have been following my blog long enough, knows I love Charlaine.

* Jennifer L Armentrout- I do like Jennifer's books however the main reason I would want to meet her would be to annoy my sister who is obsessed with her. I know am a bad sister. But if I was too meet her, my sister would most likely be with me :)

*E .L James- I know this will be controversial as you either love or hate this author. But I like her series and am interested in her books. (FYI she wrote 50 Shades of grey I think everyone knows this LOL)

* J.K Rowling- She wrote Harry Potter, enough said.

* Devin O Branagan- I have been interacting online with this author for a few years. I love her books and she's such a lovely lady. 

*Kelly Hashway- Again I have been interacting with this author online for a few years and I love her writing. She is just such a lovely person as well.

* Deborah Harkness- My obsession with this woman is crazy. She writes so beautifully and she's just a genius. She writes the All Souls Trilogy which I love so much, as in its my favourite series EVER!

*J.M Barrie- Peter Pan is my favourite childhood story and one of my favourite books ever. If I could meet the man behind it I would be overwhelmed (this is impossible but I can dream LOL )

* Zoe Sugg AKA Zoella- Yeah I know she has written one book, of which it's controversial whether she did are not. I think she did, but I loved the book and I love Zoe as a person. I love her youtube videos as well so it would be awesome to meet her.

Lastly.... am leaving number 10 open. I would love to meet anyone who writes books. Anyone who has that ability to make you fall in love with a world, a character etc to make you care for the book so much,  is a genius in my opinion, so I want to meet them all. :)

Which authors do you want to meet?