Blog Tour Review & Giveaway: The Collector by Victoria Scott

Today WinterHaven Books has the wonderful opportunity to share out review of The Collector by Victoria Scott. Special thanks to YA Bound for hosting this blog tour and allowing us the opportunity to participate.  To see the rest of the amazing tour lineup click HERE

THE COLLECTOR (A Dante Walker Novel) by Victoria Scott
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Expected Publication Date: April 2, 2013
Amazon / Barnes & Noble

He makes good girls...bad. Dante Walker is flippin’ awesome, and he knows it. His good looks, killer charm, and stellar confidence have made him one of hell’s best—a soul collector. His job is simple: weed through humanity and label those round rears with a big red good or bad stamp. Old Saint Nick gets the good guys, and he gets the fun ones. Bag-and-tag.

Sealing souls is nothing personal. Dante’s an equal-opportunity collector and doesn't want it any other way. But he’ll have to adjust, because Boss Man has given him a new assignment:

Collect Charlie Cooper’s soul within ten days.

Dante doesn't know why Boss Man wants Charlie, nor does he care. This assignment means only one thing to him, and that’s a permanent ticket out of hell. But after Dante meets the quirky Nerd Alert chick he’s come to collect, he realizes this assignment will test his abilities as a collector…and uncover emotions deeply buried.

My Thoughts:
Dante Walker is a cocky, Soul-Seal-Stickering bad boy. Being the #1 tagger for the Lord of the Underworld, Dante has nothing to prove, right...wrong. Dante wants the promotion  of Soul Director so he can get permanent placement on earth. Boss Man (a.k.a. Lucifer) will forget Dante's recent downslide if he seals the soul of a particular target: Charlie Cooper. Apparently he doesn't typically pinpoint a specific person, but this time it is different, and Dante isn't apprehensive about this assignment. He's got this! So he assumed.

Charlie Cooper is as sweet as they come. Pure and innocent. She may not be much to look at, but her genuine kindness masks whats on the outside. Dante walks into this assignment with confidence. All he has to do is turn this good girl, bad.

As Dante spends more time with Charlie and her group of friends, she begins to rub off on him and he begins to question if he's doing the right thing.

Charlie was a sweet girl. I liked her character but yet, I didn't really like how passive she was. She pretty much caved into Dante's scheming ways. But, when it came down to it, that's just who she was as a character.

Dante...He was full of himself, that was for sure. He started off being the bad boy who didn't care about anyone or anything and didn't care who he crushed in his path. But as the story moved forward, I began to see the goodness underneath this characters shell and his goodness began to shine through.  Of course Dante brings the heat to the pages, but what I really liked about him was that in the end, he proved he was more than Lucifers pawn.

There were some shockers threaded in the story and let me tell ya, I was thrown off by a few of them. I liked the added addition of a few key players and their roles. I was blindsided by a few.

Overall, this was a wonderful debut by Victoria Scott. I think she will be a new YA voice to keep an eye on.

About the Author:

 I'm a YA writer represented by Laurie McLean. Author of THE COLLECTOR (Entangled Teen, April 2013) and THE BRIMSTONE BLEED (Scholastic, 2014). I have a master's degree in marketing, and live in Dallas with my husband. When not writing, I can be found munching cotton candy and snuggling obese cats.

Website / Blog / Twitter / Goodreads / Dante's Website
 

As part of this amazing tour we have a very special giveaway to share with you.  Just fill out the Rafflecopter form below to enter.  Good Luck!

Don't forget to add both The Collector and the sequel The Liberator to your Goodreads TBR!

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Review: This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Publisher-Poppy

Release-April 2nd 2013

Purchase- Amazon / B & N

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.
Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?

My Thoughts:
Call it fate, destiny, meant to be or maybe it was it's own kind of miracle, but when fate decided to send a mis-typed e-mail that sparked a new found friendship for GDL824 and EONeill22 that gave a whole new meaning to internet connection, wouldn't you answer back?

I've only read one other book by Jennifer E. Smith, but that was all it took for me to want to read more of her work and fall in love with the ideas she comes up with. Jennifer has a knack with taking something impossible and making it probable. Whether it be love at first sight or a movie star and an ordinary girl meeting and falling for each other. Jennifer makes the reader believe the endless possibilities of 'it could happen to you'. Her writing is strong, controlled and brings fresh emotion to the story-line and it's characters.

Graham Larkin has risen to unexpected stardom as one of the hottest movie stars in his time, but he hasn't felt like himself till one day his e-mail went to a different address. To EONeill22. He could finally be himself, talk about random useless things and he could escape who he really was. But when he found out that Henley Maine would be the perfect location for his newest movie, he couldn't resist making it happen. He wanted to finally meet his internet pen-pal.

Ellie O'Neill is a fairly leveled headed person with a good grip on reality. It didn't even phase her that there were movie stars running around her little no-where town and that Graham Larkin was one of them. 

Till the night he showed up at her back-porch and somehow knew the name of her dog. Ellie couldn't believe it. Her internet mistake-turned-friend turned out to be Graham Larkin, the  freaken movie star.

But Ellie and her mom already had some heated history dealing with the media and press and so she has some issues dating someone in the spotlight despite her obvious growing feelings.

Can a movie star and an ordinary girl really make a relationship work? Or was it all just a mistake?

I really just loved this concept. Yes, it's been done before and yes, it was even a tad predictable, but I couldn't care less. This Is What Happy Looks Like is such a cute, clean and sweet contemporary romance that was totally smile and sigh worthy. Graham and Ellie have such a fun witty banter and the 'officially' getting to know each other moments were the sweetest thing. I love that I could feel how nervous but comfortable these two were around each other and how easy and warm their connection felt. I also really liked the way it ended, with hope, just the way I like it.

Fans of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight will have a lot of fun with this book. This Is What Happy Looks Like, is a perfectly entertaining light romantically sweet story about a mistake that became the very best thing that could ever happen. Fate works in mysterious ways and this was another brilliant story by Smith that captures the feeling of anything can happen if you just believe, and happiness really does look a lot like love. 
A feel-good read!

Find the author:

Goodreads / Website

                                                                   4 Snowflakes

Teaser Tuesday, #22

Welcome to Teaser Tuesdays!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Teaser Tuesday is for the following...

Published January 12, 2012

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

My Teasers are from ebook pages 80 & 122

"Lyken!" he yells just as I'm about to walk back inside my house. I turn back toward him and he's standing in his driveway. "May the force be with you!" He laughs and hops into his car as I stand there, staring down at the Darth Vader house shoes I'm sporting. Classic.

He takes a step toward me and softly cups my chin with his free hand. I'm shocked that I allowed it. He studies my face for a few seconds as my heart races within my chest. I think he's about to kiss me."

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT with either the link to your own Teaser Tuesdays post, or share your ‘teasers’ in a comment here if you don’t have a blog Thanks!

SnowPeak #9

Welcome to this month’s edition of WinterHaven SnowPeak where we offer a recap of our events, a little sneak peak of what’s to come, and what we’re most excited about.

First off for those of you that celebrated Easter yesterday, we hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends. Personally, I'm looking at a basket filled with chocolate goodies and jellybeans, so I am one happy snowflake! 

Now don't forget... Today happens to be April Fools!!! At least for us here in the States, it's the day you don't want to fall victim to a prank or joke. Much to my chagrin, I've pulled some pretty good ones, and I know what goes around comes around, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled and my senses on high alert! ;)

Well another month has quickly come and gone! March was filled with some fun blog hop giveaways and exciting blog tours! I'd have to say the most exciting event we had last month (well really just yesterday), was having Tabitha Suzuma author of Forbidden visit our site. So if you missed our post, you have to check it out because there's an awesome interview and giveaway Ms. Suzuma was gracious enough to be a part of, so be sure to go HERE for the details!

So now, let me share with you what we have scheduled for April 2013!!

Upcoming Blog Hops

Titanic Hop
Signed Book Hop
Showers of Books Hop

These blog hops are hosted by Kathy at I Am A Reader Not A Writer.  Be sure to check out her site to see what other exciting giveaway hops you can participate in!

Upcoming Blog Tours
I believe we are waiting on confirmation for a couple of blog tours, but I can tell you for certain that we'll be participating in Dante Walker's tour... Very excited!!

Aside from our reading fun, I have a couple of author events I'm hoping to attend, which I'll be sure to share, so stay tuned. Last but not least, my roomie Crystal is probably going to pinch me for spoiling her big surprise, but I'm going to spoil it anyway.... soooooo ~whispers~ she planning an exciting giveaway at the end of the month... think lots of books... LOTS! So be sure not to miss out. ~runs and hides~ ;)

Music Line-up

And now for our favorite part of the Snowpeak... our music selections for the month!

Your Surrender by Neon Trees
If I Lose Myself by OneRepublic
Just Give Me a Reason by P!nk
Rebel Beat by Goo Goo Dolls

Thank you to all of our bloggy friends and followers for sharing your book love with us!

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Timespell by Diana Paz

Today WinterHaven Books is participating in the release day blog tour for Timespell by Diana Paz hosted by Xpresso Book Tour. Our stop includes an exciting book excerpt, author interview and tour-wide giveaway. Enjoy!!

Timespell by Diana Paz
Publication Date: April 1, 2013
Publisher: Rhemalda Publishing
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

In TIMESPELL, the brash and impulsive Julia must team up with her sweet and straight-laced best friend, Angie, and the malicious and power-hungry Kaitlyn in order to keep the witch-like powers of her inheritance. But these powers come at a cost. The girls are bound to serve the Fates, and their first mission sends them back in time to Marie Antoinette’s Paris and eventually, into the chaos and war of the French Revolution.

Timespell Excerpt: Julia

The teacher went on. Julia tried to stay awak, but it was like the woman spoke in a hypnotic voice on purpose. She could practically hear her saying, “You’re getting sleepy … very, very sleepy.”

“Julia Corona,” Mrs. Ramirez snapped. Julia straightened again, forcing her eyes wide open. “Name a victim of the Reign of Terror. Now.”

“Right.” Crap. Mrs. Ramirez really had it in for her today. She flipped back a page in her textbook. “A victim,” she repeated.

“There were so very, very many. Sad times …,” she trailed off.

Mrs. Ramirez crossed her arms.

Julia chewed on her lip, scanning a paragraph about the September Massacres. The mark on her arm grew warm and she frowned.

The page in her history book went blank.

She blinked. An involuntary sound escaped her throat as the blank page began filling in. Word after word, image after image, shifting and changing until the page looked nothing like it had before. A moment ago it had talked about survivors—Pauline de Tourzel and her mother—and the next moment it talked about their untimely deaths.

“We’re waiting.”

She flipped the page, wondering if being sleepy had made her hallucinate. There was no mistaking the warmth flowing from the mark on her arm. Her heart pounded as she watched another page rearrange itself, entire paragraphs disappearing.

She slammed the book shut. Mrs. Ramirez narrowed her eyes.

Julia swallowed. “I—want to remember without looking.”

What was going on? History was changing, and shutting her book wouldn’t stop whatever was happening in the past.

Author Interview

Let’s start with your writing routine. Do you have a particular place you like to settle in to write?

I usually start with a snack and music, sometimes I spend a few minutes daydreaming about my characters and what I have planned for them… then I dive into my manuscript! My favorite place to write is on my sofa, tucked into the corner with my laptop, and I’m big on having a steady supply of tea and cookies within reach. I tend to snack a LOT while writing, but it balances out because I end up forgetting to eat during revisions.

In the novel, the three main characters seem very different. How would you describe them? Was writing in three points of view a challenge?

I enjoyed the challenge of viewing the world through each of my character’s eyes. Julia is sarcastic, outspoken, protective, and impulsive. Angie is steady, polite, thoughtful, and reserved. Kaitlyn is contemptuous, cynical, guarded, and fearless. They each have flaws and strengths that play into their relationship. I wanted to see if three girls who were so dissimilar could overcome their differences and, if so, would their experiences change them? What would their motivations be? Would they cooperate for the good of the world? For their own agendas? For personal gain? What about loyalty to one another? It was fascinating to me to think about how the girls would react to an existence that forced them to unite, and I loved seeing each of them grow.

Do any of the characters personalities resemble your own, or people you know?

Even though I created the main characters as their own people, I can’t help but infuse pieces of myself, and the experiences I’ve had, in every character I write. Because of this, I would say that I can relate to each of them.

Timespell delves into the time period of the French Revolution. What drew you to this historical period? What made you choose certain locations in the book?

I loved the idea of Marie Antoinette being the same age as my main characters when she made her Parisian debut. I think that’s probably what first had me poking into researching this particular era. The more I read, the more fascinated I became, and before I knew it, I had several scenes in mind for the story based around key events surrounding Marie Antoinette’s life. I liked choosing locations that made sense in the story and the timeline, so I decided to use Tuileries Palace as an anchor throughout a lot of the time travel that occurred in Timespell. Between Marie Antoinette’s Parisian debut and the terrifying march on the palace many years later, it was a great place to have the girls battle demons and experience key events of the Marie Antoinette era.

About the Author

Diana Paz writes books about magic, adventure, and romance. She was born in Costa Rica, grew up on Miami Beach, moved to Los Angeles in high school, and went to college in San Diego. Basically, she’s a beach bum. Diana graduated from California State University, San Marcos with a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts. She loves old movies, epic fantasy, all kinds of music, and heading to the beach with a good book. Preferably sipping a highly sweetened iced coffee. 

Follow this Author

Website | Blog | FaceBook | Twitter

As part of the book blitz the Xpresso Book Tours is offering a grand prize giveaway for one paperback and 3 ebook copies of Timespell. Be sure to fill out the rafflecopter for a chance to win!!

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