Glimmers Tour: Excerpt + Giveaway

Today the promotional tour for Glimmers by Barbara Brooke is stopping by the blog, and I have the pleasure of bringing you an excerpt to effectively whet your appetite and hopefully inspire you to give this book a try!

After trying on a pair of vintage boots, Paige discovers she has the ability to “glimmer” into another person’s life. The boots once belonged to a girl who was from another place and another time, and Paige is about to relive an important moment of this young country girl’s life.

{Lina} via photopin cc

I stand, and the room shifts. My hand clutches the counter, and everything swirls around me: chairs, dishes, faucet and my coveted coffee maker. It revolves faster and faster, making me dizzy. I squeeze my eyes shut. This isn’t right. Something is terribly wrong. Okay, I need concentrate on my breathing: one, two, three. This isn’t working. Finally, when the room feels like it has stopped spinning, I reopen my eyes.
 
I’m in the kitchen, but not in my kitchen. Where am I? The cabinets are replaced by dark Formica. The walls are plastered with beige wallpaper overflowing with images of fruit and birds. Is that an avocado-green stove? I haven’t seen one of those in decades. I’m standing on gray linoleum. My boots, now those I recognize. 

Hmm, something smells yummy in here. I wonder what’s simmering on that green stove. I inhale deeply and pick apart the scrumptious fragrance. Ooh, I can smell a sautéed onion, along with stewed tomatoes and bell peppers. Strange, this isn’t my nose; it must belong to someone else.
 
All right, I had to have slipped and hit my head. Surely, I’m hallucinating and this is just an illusion. Strange—I’m aware of someone else’s thoughts and feel the motion of her body. Yes, it must be a female. I can hear her boots crossing the floor. No, I mean my boots. This has to be a dream. 

Frantically, I search for a reflective surface. This is difficult, because I have little control. I can’t move! Thank goodness, she’s looking for a mirror ... hold on. How do I know this?
 
Long, delicate fingers reach for a cabinet door. It opens, and attached inside is a round mirror. Wow. I’m not me. I mean, this is not me. I don’t have strawberry-blond hair, light freckles, and a soft pouty mouth ... and I’m definitely not a teenager.

Delilah’s Story, June 1988
Lewisburg, West Virginia

“I’m not sure what you’re makin’, but it sure does smell good.”
 
“Shep, when are you gonna learn to stop sneaking up on people?” I admonish, turning away from the mirror.
 
“It’s Dad to you—not Shep,” my dad says with a smile, and I notice again how his weathered face tells a tale all on its own; he has spent his entire life working hard outdoors, while raising a daughter all on his own. His salt-and-pepper hair is matted to his forehead, beads of sweat cling to his skin, and his white T-shirt and jeans are smudged with dirt from the day.

Thanks so much for sharing the excerpt with us Barbara! More information on Barbara and Glimmers can be found here:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Amazon Buy Link

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to CBB Book Promotions and Barbara Brooke I have one paperback copy of Glimmers and a cute little treasure box to give away on the blog today! To enter, please just leave a comment on the post with a valid email address so I can contact you if you win. This giveaway is international and will run through midnight EST on Friday, December 14th after which time a winner will be chosen and emailed. Good luck everyone!

GLIMMERS

A simple touch and suddenly, Paige is in the past - living someone else's life, seeing the world through their eyes, and feeling their deepest emotions.

Paige used to think memories only existed in one's mind. But now, she knows better. She can't explain how or why, but she has glimmers: special moments that have remained behind - clinging to a letter, a ring, even a worn-out pair of boots.

When Paige returns from each glimmer, a small part of her has changed. Who is this gourmet cook, fashion designer, feisty lover? And how is she supposed to explain this to her family without them thinking she has completely lost her mind?

Paige thought her new talent was a gift, until…she was suddenly transported into her sister’s memory, and caught a glimmer of her secret life.

Take this humorous and romantic journey, as Paige learns about true love through the lives of three extraordinary women.

Review: Renegade

RENEGADE
The Elysium Chronicles #1
J.A. Souders
Young Adult/Dystopian
364 pages
Tor Teen
Available Now
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Since the age of three, sixteen-year-old Evelyn Winters has been trained to be Daughter of the People in the underwater utopia known as Elysium. Selected from hundreds of children for her ideal genes, all her life she’s thought that everything was perfect; her world. Her people. The Law.

But when Gavin Hunter, a Surface Dweller, accidentally stumbles into their secluded little world, she’s forced to come to a startling realization: everything she knows is a lie.

Her memories have been altered.

Her mind and body aren’t under her own control.

And the person she knows as Mother is a monster.

Together with Gavin she plans her escape, only to learn that her own mind is a ticking time bomb... and Mother has one last secret that will destroy them all.

MY THOUGHTS
Renegade begins calmly and serenely, introducing us to the quiet underwater utopia that is the much beloved home of our young protagonist, a girl who spends her days in her private gardens awaiting direction from her mother before continuing on her uncomplicated day. We’re lulled into a false sense of peace and security along with Evie in the first few chapters before the blinders we had no idea we’d donned are brutally ripped from our faces and the curtain of perfection around Elysium drops, exposing the darkness and the horror behind it. A villain emerges in all her horrifying glory, the mask of benevolence previously worn no longer adequate to hide her insidious nature, and we immediately align ourselves with Evie, determined to catalog the atrocities done unto her and others so they won’t be forgotten with the depression of a syringe’s plunger.

Evie is a challenging young woman to get to know, her initial simplistic appearance causing us to wonder how long we can realistically support someone who’s content to flit from one less-than taxing activity to the next. It doesn’t take long for us to fully understand why Evie is the way she is however, and once that moment comes, our opinion of her is instantly altered and our protective instincts flare even as our own helplessness causes us no shortage of stress. Though we come to support Evie, we never truly get a handle on who she is as a person, her mind a playground a single grotesque bully denies anyone else access to by continuously asserting her dominance and control, ensuring Evie is nothing more than a continuous blank slate, wiped clean again and again and again.

Gavin is another character we don’t ever truly learn all that much about, but his hesitant affection for Evie and his genuine concern for her well-being is touching, and we can’t help but root for the pair of them as they attempt to battle their way out of the belly of the beast. Though a declaration of love is fairly quick in coming in terms of the length of time they actually know one another, the relationship itself doesn’t feel as though it develops too fast, with enough small steps taken between them to please the romantic in us who loves the tension-filled moments that precipitate the more intimate verbal and physical gestures.

Overall, Renegade is an exceedingly dark story thanks to a monster who is all the more terrifying given she’s fallen prey to her own lies, seeing goodness and light in the mirror when what’s actually reflected back is nothing more than depraved cruelty. Despite the darkness, we’re treated to a sliver of hope at the end, a solid conclusion to this first installment that certainly leaves room for more without leaving us teetering on the edge of expectation. Hopefully the blank canvas that is Evie will be painted in riotous color in the next book, allowing us to finally see what’s been buried, twisted, and manipulated for so very long.

Rating: 4/5

Interview: Ingrid Paulson + Valkyrie Rising

I am beyond thrilled today to welcome author Ingrid Paulson to the blog to answer a few questions about her paranormal young adult novel Valkyrie Rising. I fell madly in love with this book, and it only had a little to do with the funny and charming Tuck. Okay, I just lied. Tuck had A LOT to do with the warm fuzzies this book gave me, I wanted to reach in and hug him and then engage him in a battle of snark. I'm pretty sure he would have beaten me, but that's okay because surely he would have fallen in love with me during the course of our battle, and I would have had his undying devotion as a consolation prize ;-) If you haven't had a chance to pick this book up yet, I highly recommend it!

What’s one aspect of valkyrie mythology that surprised you or fascinated you most as you were researching?

I was a little shocked at how grisly some of Norse mythology stories were. Some of the “pranks” between Odin and Loki were not funny at all, in my opinion. And I didn’t know that much about the first gods and giants who preceded Odin, Thor, and the Norse mythology figures that most people have heard about. Oh, and in several of the books they mention how the Valkyries would serve the heroes mead and basically wait on them. I chose to omit that part because my Valkyries were in charge of the soldiers, not beholden to them.

You and Ellie have swapped places and you’ve just learned you descend from a long line of mythological warriors. What’s the first thing that pops into your head?

I wonder if I can do a front flip. I’ve always wished I could do those cool gymnastics moves but I couldn’t even do a cart wheel.

If you could be a mythological figure of any kind–Norse, Greek or otherwise–what would you be?

Well, after crafting Valkyries into exactly what I think they should be, it’s hard not to answer Astrid (even though she’s not really a character out of Norse mythology). 

But my favorite mythological character growing up was always Athena—the Greek goddess of wisdom and courage who kicks some serious butt in battle. In my mind, she’s an honorary Valkyrie. 

The witty banter between Tuck and Ellie is a highlight of this story (at least for me). What might Tuck say is his favorite line that Ellie has delivered during one of their verbal sparring sessions?

One of the things Tuck loves most about Ellie is she’s the only one who puts him in his place. And she says things that surprise him—he tends to think he’s got a read on everyone. Ellie gets a crazy rush every time she makes Tuck laugh out loud since that’s not particularly easy to do. Tuck is more likely to smile and tease back because most jokes don’t catch him off guard enough to actually make him laugh. This little excerpt from the first chapter represents that dynamic for me:

“Don’t let that jerk chase you away,” Tuck said, following me through the crowd. “I’ll get rid of him.”
 
“Isn’t that what you just did?” I stopped and turned to face him.
 
“I mean for good.” The alcohol on his breath was surprisingly sweet, as was the look in his gray eyes. But I wasn’t going to be tricked a second time.
 
“I don’t want murder on my conscience, if that’s what you mean.”
 
“It’s not,” Tuck said. “Even I have my limits.”
 
“Good to know,” I said. Tucker Halloway’s limit is just shy of manslaughter,” I said.  “Maybe we tie him up and stash him in the pantry instead.”
 
Tuck laughed.

If you had to confess to either Ellie or Tuck one thing about the creation of their characters that they might be surprised to learn, what would you reveal to them?

Even though Ellie is the narrator, it took me a lot longer to figure her character out. I think in part because at the beginning she’s a little unsure of who she is as well and learns a lot about herself over the course of the story. Tuck, however, sprang into the story fully-formed and ready to roll. I never had trouble with his lines or figuring out how he’d behave in a given situation. He had a mind of his own.

Let’s say Tuck is going to accompany you on a multiple-city promotional tour for Valkyrie Rising. What are you looking forward to most and least about touring with him?

Tucker always makes me laugh and I’d look forward to his one-liners and the fact that he keeps everyone on their toes. But with that comes the inevitable scrapes he gets into, so I imagine eventually it would turn into a mess I had to clean up or talk our way out of.

Do you have any reading quirks or habits (dog-earing pages, highlighting memorable quotes, reading the last page first, etc.)?

So, in my house, writing in books or dog-earing pages was tantamount to sacrilege. Since most of the books I read belonged to my dad, and were always in pristine condition, I was very careful with them. To this day, I have trouble writing in books. And actually, when I signed the first few copies of Valkyrie Rising, I had pangs of “I’m ruining this book—I’m gonna get in so much trouble!” Yes, totally silly.

Lately I’ve been reading more ebooks than paper books simply because it’s easier to transport so I do highlight and tab pages that way.

Give us one word that describes whatever project you have in store for us next.

Dark. I’m a pretty happy-go-lucky person and I love being silly, so I’m stretching myself with this one.

Thank you so much for having me, Jenny. I also wanted to share a Valkyrie Rising playlist that I completely adore and that I listen to while running. It was put together by my critique partner, Whitney Miller, whose debut novel is coming Winter 2014 from Flux. It’s fitting Whitney made a playlist since she knows tons about music and even has a scene in her book that takes place in an underground Tokyo’s punk club!  Here’s a few words about Whitney’s book—tentatively titled THE TERROR.  It’s got horror, humor, and hot guys. What more can you ask for?

Harlow Wintergreen is keeping a dark secret.
 
She is the daughter of the charismatic leader of VisionCrest, a corporate religion that's been plagued by a rash of mysterious kidnappings. All eyes are on Harlow, and she is expected to be perfect. 

Unbeknownst to everyone, a sinister voice whispers to Harlow, showing her visions of a dizzying, blood-soaked alternate reality. Traveling on a PR junket to Asia with the families of the VisionCrest elite, Harlow is hoping to reconnect with her childhood friend and secret crush, Adam. Adam was the victim of a kidnapping and has miraculously returned, but his demeanor has changed. Harlow suspects she isn’t the only one keeping dangerous secrets.
 
Harlow desperately struggles to keep her mind under control, but the more she resists, the more completely she is overwhelmed by the terrifying voice. It whispers to her. Shows her the deadly possibilities. Harlow’s mental state deteriorates and her visions bleed over into reality. When people begin to turn up dead, Harlow must expose her secret to the boy she loves and face the monster within, or else be consumed by it. Will it be too late?

Best Coast - "The Only Place"
Bananarama - "Cruel Summer"
Paramore - "Born for this"
Ellie Goulding - "Guns & Horses"
Britney Spears - "Till the World Ends"
Florence + the Machine - "Leave my Body"
Metric - "Help I'm Alive"
Silversun Pickups - "Gun Shy Sunshine"

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing the playlist Ingrid! More information on Ingrid (AND TUCK!) and her books can be found here:

Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Amazon Buy Link

VALKYRIE RISING

Nothing ever happens in Norway. But at least Ellie knows what to expect when she visits her grandmother: a tranquil fishing village and long, slow summer days. And maybe she’ll finally get out from under the shadow of her way-too-perfect big brother, Graham, while she’s there.

What Ellie doesn’t anticipate is Graham’s infuriating best friend, Tuck, tagging along for the trip. Nor did she imagine boys going missing amid rumors of impossible kidnappings. Least of all does she expect something powerful and ancient to awaken in her and that strange whispers would urge Ellie to claim her place among mythological warriors. Instead of peace and quiet, there’s suddenly a lot for a girl from L.A. to handle on a summer sojourn in Norway! And when Graham vanishes, it’s up to Ellie—and the ever-sarcastic, if undeniably alluring Tuck—to uncover the truth about all the disappearances and thwart the nefarious plan behind them.

Deadly legends, hidden identities, and tentative romance swirl together in one girl’s unexpectedly-epic coming of age.

Review: Surrender

SURRENDER (Possession #2)
Elana Johnson
Young Adult/Dystopian
480 Pages
Simon Pulse
Available Now
Received from author and CBB Book Promotions for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Forbidden love, intoxicating power, and the terror of control…

Raine has always been a good girl. She lives by the rules in Freedom. After all, they are her father’s rules: He’s the Director. It’s because of him that Raine is willing to use her talent—a power so dangerous, no one else is allowed to know about it. Not even her roommate, Vi.

All of that changes when Raine falls for Gunner. Raine’s got every reason in the world to stay away from Gunn, but she just can’t. Especially when she discovers his connection to Vi’s boyfriend, Zenn. Raine has never known anyone as heavily brainwashed as Vi. Raine’s father expects her to spy on Vi and report back to him. But Raine is beginning to wonder what Vi knows that her father is so anxious to keep hidden, and what might happen if she helps Vi remember it. She’s even starting to suspect Vi’s secrets might involve Freedom’s newest prisoner, the rebel Jag Barque...

MY THOUGHTS
Surrender is a lengthy expedition into a theoretically flawless world, the perceived burden of decision making removed from citizens entirely as their government oversees every aspect of their lives, small or large, to ensure perfection is achieved through the absence of independent thought. Like its predecessor, Surrender can be a chaotic story at times, our time split between protagonists Raine and Gunner as we follow their separate but linked journeys and uncover layer after layer of deceit. We’re given information, as are Gunner and Raine, in tiny fragments, bits and pieces revealed to us quickly before we must file them away and move on with our lead couple, but our collection of precious knowledge slowly but surely starts to paint a terrifying picture, and we can’t help but curl our lips in disgust the more we learn about those in power.

While Gunner and Raine are both interesting and likable characters, they aren’t necessarily what draw us into this grotesque mockery of an ideal world, instead it’s their roles in the resistance that have us rapidly turning the pages. Ms. Johnson has created in Director Hightower a villain in the form of a man; a father whose involvement in his daughter’s life stems not from any semblance of affection, but rather from a keen interest in her powerful talent, and in him, we find our emotional attachment to Gunner and Raine’s story. Typically emotional attachment comes in the form of more positive feelings – the love and support of beloved characters – but in this case, it comes in the form of utter hatred, our tether to him a sharp, pulsating thread of abhorrence that flares and causes a red haze to cloud our vision at every demonstration of his cruelty.

With his every action, our desire to see the resistance succeed grows tenfold, but as it does, we find a nervous anticipation accompanies its growth, our understanding of Director Hightower’s intelligence and his reach within Freedom making us horrifyingly aware of how likely a favorable outcome truly is. Ms. Johnson does a brilliant job of building that tension to an almost unbearable degree, giving us brief moments of happiness only to yank them away again as even the strongest of minds proves it can only withstand so much tampering before it shuts down. Through it all though we cling to glimpses of resistance we’ve been given, holding out hope that a small collective David will be able to topple one monstrous Goliath.

Though Surrender does have a tendency to be a touch choppy at times, bouncing back and forth between Gunner and Raine as well as between past and present when both characters have flashes of memory, the somewhat splintered nature of the story seems to fit the world itself. Freedom is not a smooth, tranquil city; it’s a thin film of complacency covering a seething underbelly of dissent, and the staccato rhythm of the chapters seems to match that of Gunner, Raine, Vi and Zenn’s lives. There are some momentous revelations in the final chapters, ensuring our need for the third and final book is at an all time high when we close the back cover, and I have already begun the countdown to June 2013 when I’ll finally get to see how all the pieces fit together.

Rating: 4/5

Candace over at CBB Book Promotions has organized a fantastic tour for the first two books in Elana Johnson's YA dystopian series, and Elana herself is offering up not one, but THREE, amazing giveaways to those who are following the tour. Below are the Rafflecopter forms for each of the giveaways:) Be sure and check out all the other fabulous stops on the tour HERE and you can find more information on Elana and her books on the these sites:

Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Buy Surrender on Amazon


a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Poison Princess

POISON PRINCESS
The Arcana Chronicles #1
Kresley Cole
Paranormal Young Adult
369 pages
Simon & Schuster BFYR
Available now
Received at BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
 She could save the world—or destroy it.

Sixteen year old Evangeline “Evie” Greene leads a charmed life, until she begins experiencing horrifying hallucinations. When an apocalyptic event decimates her Louisiana hometown, Evie realizes her hallucinations were actually visions of the future—and they’re still happening. Fighting for her life and desperate for answers, she must turn to her wrong-side-of-the-bayou classmate: Jack Deveaux.

But she can’t do either alone.

With his mile-long rap sheet, wicked grin, and bad attitude, Jack is like no boy Evie has ever known. Even though he once scorned her and everything she represented, he agrees to protect Evie on her quest. She knows she can’t totally depend on Jack. If he ever cast that wicked grin her way, could she possibly resist him?

Who can Evie trust?

As Jack and Evie race to find the source of her visions, they meet others who have gotten the same call. An ancient prophesy is being played out, and Evie is not the only one with special powers. A group of twenty-two teens has been chosen to reenact the ultimate battle between good and evil. But it’s not always clear who is on which side….

MY THOUGHTS
Poison Princess is a strangely alluring introduction to the world of the Arcana Chronicles, the picture Ms. Cole paints haunting and brutal, grabbing us by the throat from the first chapter and refusing to release us until we’ve devoured every page. What’s perhaps most fascinating about this first installment is the challenge it presents, protagonists Evie and Jack not an entirely likable pair from the onset as they repeatedly test the limits of our patience with their antagonistic relationship, but like the Poison Princess herself, both characters slowly grow claws, sinking them into our skin centimeter by centimeter until they’re fully embedded and we find ourselves completely ensnared. As with the characters, the world itself presents many of its own challenges, namely the seemingly endless line of questions we have with regard to the Arcana, Evie’s role with them, and their overall purpose, but instead of the frustration we might expect from so many blanks yet to be filled, the story is written in such a way that we are continually reassured answers will be provided even if they’re not granted to us in this first book.

Evie is a bit of a tricky heroine, someone who initially seems willing to succumb to peer pressure in order to please those around her and who repeatedly mouths off to Jackson with little regard to how he might interpret her words. She inadvertently insults him on a variety of occasions, and despite knowing she’s caused offense, she refuses to clarify her statement so that he understands how it came across was not in fact how it was intended. For almost the entire first half connecting to her is a bit of a struggle, her caustic relationship with Jackson keeping us at a distance even though we’re able to sympathize with her situation and find ourselves more than fascinated by her visions. In the last hundred or so pages however, Evie decides to be as honest (in some things) with Jackson as possible, clearing up many of their misunderstandings when they happen and becoming a young woman we want to root for on every possible level.

Jackson, for his part, is as much of a problem in the beginning as Evie, proudly wearing a suit of arrogance and righteous indignation at his lot in life as though such things belong to him exclusively, with no one else in the world having earned the right to an attitude such as his. He’s downright cruel at times, tossing insults back at Evie and somewhat obtusely interpreting every word she says as her looking down on him from her high horse, refusing to take a moment to give her the benefit of the doubt. His reactions to her are more than justifiable in the beginning, but as they go along we want nothing more than to shake the two of them to help break the vicious cycle of miscommunications they seem incapable of remedying. However, like Evie, eventually he comes clean with regard to his true feelings, and we learn to read his actions instead of listening to his words so that suddenly by the end our hearts are torn to ribbons before we even realize the first cut was made.

Overall, Poison Princess is a violent, vicious, and completely addicting start to what will no doubt prove to be an intense series documenting Evie’s journey from normal to paranormal. Those who crave answers to all their questions will most likely reach the end of this book with a twinge of disappointment at how much is left to learn about the Arcana, but Evie’s story is so darkly captivating it’s hard not to smile at what the last page promises for the future.

Rating: 3.5-4 out of 5 (I'm giving a range because there are days when Jackson and Evie's behavior bothered me more than it did on others. All was dependent on my mood.)

Things of Awesome: December Edition

Hey everyone!

I've done a couple posts here and there pulling together the few bits of bookish news that have either been sent to me or that I've stumbled upon, and I've decided I'm going to try and turn it into a mini-feature here on the blog. I'm going to attempt to do a post the first Sunday of each month, but sometimes I make plans like this and then manage to catch a rather brutal strain of laziness, something that results in the death of any sort of follow through. I love me. You'll know this has happened if you see this feature once more in January and then never again ;-) For now though, I've got some fun things to share with you, some of which you may already be aware because I'm often late to the party, but some you may not so I'm going to post all I know anyway!

1. HARPERTEEN IMPULSE

From their press release:

HarperCollins Publishers announced today (November 26th) the launch of HarperTeen Impulse, a digital imprint focusing on Young Adult short stories and novellas. The new imprint will publish short-form works from new and established authors, providing original and exciting new teen ebooks across a wide variety of genres.

HarperTeen Impulse will publish between one and four titles a month, all of which will go on sale the first Tuesday of that month, branded “Impulse Tuesday.” Impulse titles will benefit from dedicated program marketing, including extensive social media outreach, monthly newsletters, cross-promotion in HarperTeen print books, and strategic sales promotions.

Who else is excited about this? HarperTeen never fails to have an absolutely amazing lineup of books throughout the year, and the fact that we're going to be getting even more from them each month with this new imprint is enough to have me embarrassing myself by doing a happy dance in my living room despite the threat of neighbors seeing me through our curtain-less windows. I don't even care if they do though because I'm going to get to read books like the below starting this Tuesday, December 4th:

BREATHLESS by Sophie Jordan

Sophie Jordan's breathtaking digital original novella set in the world of Firelight.

For Az, it's supposed to be a fun summer vacation with her family. Nothing complicated. Just a quick trip to test the waters as she prepares for a year on her own. That all changes when she rescues a drowning girl and meets Tate—the most gorgeous human boy she's ever seen. Tate throws her heart, her plans, and her life into upheaval, but the closer she gets to him, the harder it is to hide the secret of what she is. With no hope for a future together, the last thing that can ever happen . . . is love.

This stand-alone digital original is perfect for those new to the Firelight series as well as veteran fans.

RADIANT by Cynthia Hand

From New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Hand comes a riveting original novella (available only as an ebook) set in the world of the Unearthly series.

Clara is desperate to get away—from the memories that haunt her in Wyoming and the visions of a future she isn't ready to face—and spending the summer in Italy with her best friend, Angela, should be the perfect escape. . . .

For as long as she can remember, Angela has been told that love is dangerous, that she must always guard her heart. But when she met a mysterious guy in Italy two years ago she was determined to be with him, no matter the costs. Now she must decide whether she can trust Clara with her secret, or if telling her the truth will risk everything she cares about.

Alternating between Angela and Clara's perspectives, Radiant chronicles the unforgettable summer that will test the bounds of their friendship and change their lives forever.

Also releasing December 4th:
STUPID PERFECT WORLD by Scott Westerfeld
CRUISIN' by Sarah Mlynowski

Upcoming Impulse titles include:
THE PRINCE by Kiera Cass
TAGS by Walter Dean Myers
ONE DAY MORE by Aprilynne Pike.

More information on what you can expect from HarperTeen's new imprint can be found here.

2. SIMON TEEN'S 31 DAYS OF GIVEAWAYS

Thank you SimonTEEN! *commences finger crossing for every day of December*

3.  READ EVERY DAY

The awesome people over at Scholastic have launched a holiday campaign called Read Every Day. For every Storia ebook purchased, Scholastic will donate a book to a child in need, with special attention paid to those kids who lost their home libraries in Hurricane Sandy. You can find all the details HERE.

4. SOURCEBOOKS 25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

From Sourcebooks:

Get daily eBook deals delivered straight to your inbox and be entered for a chance to win eBooks, candy, print books, and an eReader for you—and one for a friend or family member!

Sourcebooks is feeling the spirit of the holiday season and we want to share it with you! We’re running our biggest promotion yet—daily discounts on our most popular eBooks—throughout the month of December. If you sign up to receive our daily email notifications, you’ll automatically be entered to win two eReaders: one for you, and one for a friend or family member. In addition, we’ll also be giving away more fun prizes every single week, from candy to gift baskets to books. Sign up today!

5. SCARLET TRILOGY

One of my favorite reads this year was SCARLET by A.C. Gaughen (if you haven't read it, I HIGHLY recommend picking it up). It was another one of those unexpectedly amazing stories where I immediately fell in love with the characters upon meeting them. As per usual, when I finished I ran to the internet to find any information I could with regards to a sequel given events were left fairly open-ended, though not frustratingly so. Imagine my anxiety when I discovered there was no information to be had. No mention of a sequel anywhere. *sobs in remembrance*

Well, friends, Friday was my lucky day. On Friday, A.C. announced on her blog some very, very exciting news. As you may have guessed from the above #5 title, SCARLET is not simply going to have one sequel, but two. YES! You can read all the details on A.C.'s blog here, and she is running a couple of giveaways to celebrate as well, so be sure and check them out.