In My Mailbox

Another one of my preorders came in this week- for A Touch Mortal, which is one of my favorite books of 2011 and, well, ever. I adore this book something fierce. There was major happy dancing when it finally got here. Not to mention, I am in love with all the books I got this week... so without further gushing and ado, I bring you this week's goodies!

 

 For Review:

Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey (Already read- its awesome!)

Hourglass by Myra McEntire (Already read- brilliant!)

Queen of the Dead by Stacey Kade

Shadow Walkers by Brent Hartinger

Angry Young Man by Chris Lynch

Priscilla the Great by Sybil Nelson

Won:

Haven by Kristi Cook (Signed!)

Bought:

A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford (omfg I love this book)

Trigger by Susan Vaught

Can't Get There From Here by Todd Strasser

Almost Home by Jessica Blank

This is What I Want To Tell You by Heather Duffy Stone

So there you have it. That was my week in books. I'm crazy excited about them all for sure! Be sure to let me know what you got this week!

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren.

Author Top Ten: Cris Beam

Guest posting today is I Am J author Cris Beam, here to talk a little about some pet peeves. Make sure you check these out, and check out I Am J, out now!


10. Jeans. Mine in particular, but really, jeans in general. It doesn’t matter the brand: they cost too much, and no matter how enormous they are, they never fit right. Also genes. Genetically, I’m okay cause I’m tall, but there are things I’d fix. I think I have a selfish streak ‘cause of my moms.

9. Birds in cages. Who decided this was a good idea? If you wanna look at birds, you don’t have to clip their wings or clean up their shit. Just go outside.

8. Whaling. Okay, maybe the bird thing got me thinking, but I just heard that there are still people who kill whales illegally for their meat. Like it’s still the nineteenth century. Come on. Whales are cool.

7. Justin Bieber. Who is this kid, and why does he flirt with anything that moves? Little girls, grandmas, the pizza on the table. He even has a flirt coach. This is a real job?

6. 3-D. Does every movie have to jump off the screen and into your tub of popcorn with you? I mean, maybe the scary ones, fine, but even Justin Bieber has a 3-D movie. Wait a minute, he is scary. See #7.

5. The gym. I need to work out, like all the time. But I heard from my friend that some places in France or Spain or New Zealand or somewhere have gender neutral bathrooms—like whole rooms you can lock with a shower and everything---where guys like me can change. You’d think in New York City there’d be one gym I could go to where I could take a shower and not scare people on the subway with my post-weightlifting body fumes. Only my cat likes the way I smell after that.

4. The cost of top surgery. This isn’t really a pet peeve, it’s a MAJOR OBSTACLE! Right now it would cost me about six grand plus airfare to fly to the surgeon I want in San Francisco, and I have insurance! But insurance doesn’t cover it. I’m saving ten bucks a week, which means I’ll be what, 82, before I can get this? It’s a medical necessity, everybody! Can’t Obama do something about this?

3. Hook-ups. I’m an old-fashioned guy. Maybe I’m a gentleman. Or maybe I’m shy. But I’m at college now where at parties people just get naked with strangers. The last time I did that, I was a baby in the hospital nursery. Went home with the wrong people that time too.

2. Melon. Watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, you name it, they all taste like pee.

1. Small-mindedness. Little mind, little life. (Okay, I take back what I said about the flirt coach. I probably need one.)


Thank you, Cris, for that list! I am with you on the whaling, too...

Character Interview + Contest: Mandarin (Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard)

I recently had the awesome privilege of interviewing the lovely but mysterious Mandarin Ramey, the namesake character in Kirsten Hubbard's (amazing) debut Like Mandarin. And because she is so fantastic, Mandarin, Kirsten and I have a chance for you to win a copy of Like Mandarin, right after the interview! But first, I bring you the awesome girl that is Mandarin...


What was your first impression of Grace?

Grace was always one of those quiet kids, the sort all the idiot loudmouths ignore. But I've learned it's those quiet kids you got to watch out for, 'cause they ain't letting their mouths get in the way of their eyes, if that makes any sense. Grace doesn't just look. She sees. I suspected it when I read her essay outside Beck's office, and when we started hanging out, I was right. It's great, mostly. Except when she turns those eyes on me.


Of all the men you've been with, which one has stuck out the most in your mind?

I don't know. None of them. There was this—never mind. I don't want to talk about that.

Which scene in the book was the most intense for you? Spoiler free, of course.

Intense in a good way? That'd have to be the night we liberated the trophies—hunting trophies, I mean, the creepy animal heads they've got hanging at the grocery store and The Buffalo Grill. It was Grace's idea, but I'd be lying if I said I hadn't considered it on my own. I just never thought Grace would go through with it, is all. But she surprised me.


Intense in, like, an emotional way? When Grace had me meet her at the Tombs. The Tombs is this heap of boulders over by the river, where I guess Grace used to read books or whatever it is she does. We were fighting, and I was a basket case. I had no idea why she wanted to meet me there, and sure as shit, was I ever surprised. I guess Grace has surprised me lots of times.


If you could redo one thing, and have a fresh start at it, what would it be?

I wish I'd done better in school. That's the obvious one. It's just that, on a day-to-day basis, it all seemed so pointless, you know? It got better when I had Grace, but all the rest of it, the teachers, the other kids, learning about hexes and polywhatevers—it was horseshit.


But more than that, I did something to Grace toward the end… I thought I knew what I was doing at the time, but I didn't think it through. So yeah. I regret it.


What is the main thing you want to tell people who haven't read the book yet?

Well… I'd trust Grace better than anybody, but it don't hurt to remember that there's different sides to every story. Especially when you're talking about me. 


Thank you, Mandarin, for answering those questions, and thank you Kirsten for sharing her for a day.

I have to say, Like Mandarin is honestly one of my favorite books this year, and easily in my top 5 contemps ever. This book is fantastic. It is a highly recommended by Kari kind of book. So what does that mean for you? A contest!

I have one signed copy of Like Mandarin up for grabs, and Kirsten might even doodle a jackalope in it for you (which, believe it or not, are a big thing in the book in a funny, awesome way).

All you have to do to enter is fill out THIS form.

Contest IS international, and ends Sunday, March 13.

No entries will be accepted through the comments, but please still leave a comment for Kirsten and Mandarin! And be sure to find Kirsten on twitter @kirstenhubbard!

Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine.

This week's pick is Variant by Robinson Wells, coming October 1 from HarperTeen.

Summary: Benson Fisher is a foster kid from the slums of Pittsburgh, who, trying to leave his old life behind, gets a scholarship to a private high school in the mountains of New Mexico. However, once he gets there, he realizes that the school is definitely not what he was expecting: it’s surrounded by razor-wire fences and tall brick walls, and the students inside are essentially...moreBenson Fisher is a foster kid from the slums of Pittsburgh, who, trying to leave his old life behind, gets a scholarship to a private high school in the mountains of New Mexico. However, once he gets there, he realizes that the school is definitely not what he was expecting: it’s surrounded by razor-wire fences and tall brick walls, and the students inside are essentially prisoners–they have no contact with the outside world. There are no adults, either, and the other students are just like him–kids from the fringes of society who no one will miss. Well, almost all of the kids are like him.


My Thoughts: First, it's a boy book. Which are my favorite. Second, just judging from this premise, it's going to be a gritty and intense book. Also my favorite. Third, this cover is just fantastic. A little creepy, very thought provoking, and definitely grabbing. I really want to know about the kids that aren't like Benson. And I want to know more about this school. And I want to know what exactly is going to happen, because this premise has all the makings of a fantastic, grab me from the start book.

Author Top Ten + Contest: Angie Frazier

Popping in today is Angie Frazier, author of the upcoming The Midnight Tunnel: A Suzanna Snow Mystery, to talk about Ten Facts from Research while writing and, well, researching, for this book. And really, some of these are just interesting and fun to know.

Some of the most obscure historical tidbits pop up whenever I do research for a book. I think that’s what I love most about historical fiction—the random things I learn that could just help me win a million dollars on a game show some day. Seriously.*


When researching for THE MIDNIGHT TUNNEL, I came across these random facts that just might help YOU win a million dollars some day:

1. Labor Day was first observed as a Federal holiday in 1894.
2. Eye Shadow wasn’t called Eye Shadow in 1904. Go figure. I actually don’t know what it was called…though blue eye makeup might work.
3. Fish net stockings didn’t come over from the Paris fashion scene until 1908.
4. The Bay of Fundy’s tides are impressive! They’re the most extreme in the world: more than 100 billion tonnes of seawater flows in and out of the Bay during one tide cycle—which is more than the combined flow of the world’s freshwater rivers. Wow.
5. It’s really not cool in the lobstering world to say one “catches” lobster. You don’t catch them. You “trap” them. Just so you’re prepared for your next conversation with a lobsterman…
6. And speaking of lobster, at the turn of the last century the uppity-ups wouldn’t have been caught dead eating lobster from the shell. It was considered a poor man’s dinner. My, how times have changed.
7. Not only would the guests at the Rosemount refuse to eat lobster from a shell, they would also refuse to wear only one outfit per day. Displays of fashion were the primary ways a woman showed off just how wealthy and current she was. It was common for ladies to change their outfits several times per day. Yet another reason I’m happy for the jeans and tee-shirt revolution.
8. Telegrams were like the first text messages, where people used abbreviations and shortened sentences in order to save not just space, but money. It was fast but expensive to send a telegram—a whopping 30 cents. Today, that would be like sending a $7 text!
9. Think a carriage is a carriage is a carriage? Nope. Not so simple as that. There are all sorts of carriages and for all sorts of outings, people, social classes, etc… Curricles, phaetons, and barouches, oh my!
10. And the last, most important fact I gleaned from researching THE MIDNIGHT TUNNEL—or for any book, really—was to double, even triple-check, everything. Research isn’t easy or straightforward, but I’m pretty sure it will help me win that mega-money game show one day. Seriously.

So there you have it. Some random facts that just might come up some other time for you. And now for the latest fact, you can enter to win a finished copy of THE MIDNIGHT TUNNEL right now.

How? Simple. Just fill out THIS FORM.

Contest is US Only and ends Sunday, March 13.

Comments are very appreciated, but no entries will be counted through the comments. 

Top Reasons to Buy The Liar Society and Clarity

So.... amongst other awesome releases coming out today, two books that I loved loved loved are hitting shelves. And just in case my reviews weren't enough to get you to go buy them, in usual Kari style, I bring you my top five reasons each to go buy The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker and Clarity by Kim Harrington!

The Liar Society:
5. The cover. I mean, come on, she has pink hair.
4. I woke up at 7 am to finish reading it. After going to bed at 3 am because that whole "I'll just read a little bit and go to sleep thing" just didn't happen with this one.
3. There's this nerdy, dorky boy who gives a good, maybe a little hot, name to nerdfighters everywhere.
2.There's also this hot, suave boy who will make you swoon. And maybe make you want to strangle him a time or two. You know, for a good balance.
1. It's a mystery! And it's done SO well! And oh my gosh. The twists!
Bonus: There's this scene. With a sword. Oh yeah. Now you wanna know.


Clarity:
5. Character development in this one is just awesome. I loved them all.
4. It's contemporary, with a little bit of supernatural. I wanted to snuggle with it.
3. Hot boys! Three of them! A lovable manwhore! And a guarded angsty one! And a sorry, apologetic, cute, sweet one! Boys boys boys and I want them all!
2. Snark snark snark. Clare's attitude was just fantastic.
1. It's a mystery! And it's done SO well! And oh my gosh. The twists! (Okay, I know I used that for The Liar Society, but its true on both. SERIOUSLY. The twists. And the who done it in this one???? Yeah. Um. Wow.)
Bonus: The hot boys! Oh. I already said that. Fine. Clare's ability is just downright awesome. And fun to read about.


So there you have it. My top reasons to go out RIGHT NOW and buy both of these books, because they are available today!


Congrats Kim, Lisa and Laura. You ladies rocked it with these titles. Now enjoy your day, then go write more books for me to read. I mean. For everyone. Yeah. That.