Hello and happy Friday! I have some awesome news…I can giveaway a copy of Ruined by Paula Morris to five lucky winners.

In case you haven’t already heard about the book, here’s the synopsis:

When Rebecca Brown goes to New Orleans to stay with her voodoo-obsessed aunt, she finds the beautiful city haunted by the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Rebecca is also startled to discover a haunting of a different kind: near a graveyard one night, amid the Spanish moss and beneath the moonlight, she meets a ghost girl named Lisette, who has been dead for 150 years. Lisette helps Rebecca unearth an ancient mystery in her aunt’s house, along with some troubling historical truths. Meanwhile, Rebecca must juggle adjusting to her snooty new prep school, developing a serious crush on a handsome boy, and dealing with an elite group of popular girls who may be linked to the ghostly mystery themselves.

This is just in time for the Halloween season and a great opportunity for those of you participating in the R.I.P. IV challenge to expand your reading pool.

Before we get to the fun part (i.e. what you need to do to enter), we need to establish a few ground rules:

1. You must have a U.S. mailing address – no P.O. boxes (if you’re international, you’re welcome to enter if you have a friend in the U.S. who is willing to receive the book and forward it to you).

2. If you are under 13 years of age, you must have your parent’s permission to enter.

With that established, to enter, leave a comment on this post answering the question: Have you ever been to New Orleans? If so, what was your favorite part of the trip. If not, what would you most like to see if you were to visit. (And should you live in N.O., tell us what visitors should make it a point to see).

For extra entries:
+1 if you’re subscribed via RSS
+1 if you tweet about this giveaway post
+2 if you post the link in your blog’s sidebar
+3 if you write a blog post about this giveaway
+3 if you’re subscribed to the newsletter

Make sure to mention any extra entries in your comment so I can tally them. The contest will run through 11:59PM EST on Friday September 25, 2009.

That’s it and good luck!

First, thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway for a chance to win Serena Robar’s upcoming YA title, Giving Up the V.

I combed through each of the comments, tallied them up and, with the help of random.org, selected a winner:

Congratulations dsmitty1012

An email has been sent out, but if I don’t hear back within 48 hours, I’ll select another entrant.

Now, if you didn’t win this time around, please don’t fret. I’m planning to hold a number of giveaways in the future (infinitely-wise higher power willing).

When Giving Up the V by Serena Robar entered my radar, I immediately thought it looked like a fun read.

What’s So Wrong With Waiting?

Spencer Davis just turned sixteen. But unlike most hormonal teenagers who seem obsessed with sex — like her entire crew of friends — Spencer just doesn’t get it. She’d rather wait for the right guy and the right moment. But that moment may be arriving sooner than she’d thought.

Enter Benjamin Hopkins, a new transfer student who seems to have his eyes on our V-card-carrying heroine. He’s gorgeous, funny, suave, athletic, and capable of making Spencer’s knees wobble with a single glance. Spencer has never felt this way about anyone before, but is Ben truly V-worthy?

It tackles a subject that’s not always the easiest to deal with and one I haven’t seen too many recent YA titles dealing with, so it may wind up being an emotional read. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

From now until the end of the month, I’ll be holding a giveaway for one copy of Giving Up the V.

Entering is simple: Leave a comment on this post.

Want some extra entries? No problem. +1 if you’re subscribed to the RSS feed. +1 if you’re subscribed to the TIR newsletter (the sign up form is in the right hand column). +1 for each blog or tweet you make about the giveaway.

Just make sure you mention each of your +1’s. For instance, if you’re subscribed to the newsletter and you write a tweet about the giveaway, make sure to mention them in your entry comment or comment twice. (That way it will be easier for me to keep track of all the entries.)

The fine print: This contest is only open to people in the US and Canada. The winner will be chosen at random. The contest will run from now until 9AM EST June 30th, 2009.

Since the winner will be contacted via email, please make sure to leave a valid email address when entering.

That’s all.

Good luck!

This contest is now closed. Thank you so much to everyone who participated. The winner will be announced on Tuesday July 1.

Welcome to another edition of the Sunday Salon…

I’ve been slacking in my Sunday Salon blogging duties, but that’s because my life has been hectic. It’s no excuse, I know. That’s why I’ve resolved to do my Sunday Salon each week unless I have a better excuse.

And to make up for my slacking ways, this week, I’ll start you off with a little contest news.

Every day this month a new YA title will be given away to mark the release of Giving Up the V by Serena Robar.

What’s So Wrong With Waiting?

Spencer Davis just turned sixteen. But unlike most hormonal teenagers who seem obsessed with sex — like her entire crew of friends — Spencer just doesn’t get it. She’d rather wait for the right guy and the right moment. But that moment may be arriving sooner than she’d thought.

Enter Benjamin Hopkins, a new transfer student who seems to have his eyes on our V-card-carrying heroine. He’s gorgeous, funny, suave, athletic, and capable of making Spencer’s knees wobble with a single glance. Spencer has never felt this way about anyone before, but is Ben truly V-worthy?

Those who like to be winners or just want a chance to nab some darn fine YA literature should head over to Serena’s website and sign up for the newsletter to enter.

Dark Thrills

I’ve finished reading Dark Places by Gillian Flynn and let me just say what a ride. On one hand, I absolutely adored her prose and evocative descriptions. You could feel and taste the words coming right off the page. On the other hand, I absolutely disliked every one of the characters. I had sympathy for some, yes, but little more than that.

None of them had any redeeming qualities, which was surprising as there were plenty of characters in that book. It needed at least one person who wasn’t utterly broken on some level to help balance it. Lyle came close, but still missed the mark.

For that reason alone, this book wasn’t on my favorites list. In fact, it was enough to bump this book from “loved it” status to just plain “liked it.” The full review will be online next week. I’m letting it marinate in draft right now.

The Great Perhaps

I’ve read the first two chapters of three books: Swoon by Nina Malkin, Bad Things by Michael Marshall, and The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno.

Swoon has potential and it was planned as my next big read, until I saw that not everyone was pleased with its execution. (After reading Karissa’s review, I went to Amazon and saw that it was a general consensus.) It put a slight damper on my excitement to read it. Mind you, I’m still excited to read it, but I’m afraid it won’t live up to all the hype I’ve built in my own mind. Best solution? Set it aside and read a couple books, then come back to it when I’ve let that hype dwindle a bit.

After reading the first page of Bad Things, I thought the writing was a bit too dry for my liking, but I’m so intrigued by the storyline that I know I’ll finish it. Thank goodness the writing picked up around the tenth page. But I set it aside so I could finish Dark Places, which had a writing style that gripped me from page one.

Finally, The Great Perhaps beckoned and surprisingly, it was quite easy to answer its call. The writing style is fluid and easy. The characters, from page one, are so quirky that it’s almost impossible not to connect in some way. They’re all flawed, mind you, but they almost seem normal. (Odd when you consider the father has a seizure each time he sees a cloud or thinks he sees a cloud and one of their daughters wants to build a bomb for her science project.)

And that’s where I am. Next on my reading list has been decided: The Great Perhaps by Joe Meno. Chances are it will be finished within the next couple of days, the writing’s that smooth.

Welcome to another edition of the Sunday Salon…

The month of January has been filled with reading challenges and, woohoo, giveaways. Just yesterday, I posted about a book giveaway for My Little Red Book and now today I’ll be announcing a giveaway for one lucky Today I Read commenter. Since I’m a little late with the announcement, it’s how I’ll start this Sunday Salon. Continue reading »