Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Teaser Tuesday (Dec. 11)



Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of 
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!

Photo and more info on Goodreads

"Jared sat down, pulled the crumpled poem from his pocket, and read it through again. "In a man's torso, you will find my secret to all mankind." Those lines bothered him. He didn't want to find an old, dead body, even if there there was something really cool inside it."

From The Field Guide in The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black 

Monday, December 10, 2012

Day 10 – Favorite classic book




Day 10 is "favorite classic book." It has been ages since I've really read any classics but I think one of my favorite all time classic is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.


I'm also a long time fan of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.




Jack Templar Tour with Guest Character Post

Image from Goodreads
Orphan Jack Templar has no memory of his parents and only the smallest details from his Aunt Sophie about how they died. The day before Jack's fourteenth birthday, things start to change for him. At first it's great: A sudden new strength helps him defend his nose-picking friend "T-Rex" from the school bully, and even his crush, Cindy Adams, takes notice. But then a mysterious girl named Eva arrives and tells him two facts that will change his life forever. First, that he's the descendant of a long line of monster hunters and he's destined to be in the family business. Second, that there's a truce between man and monster that children are off-limits...until their fourteenth birthday! Jack has only one day before hundreds of monsters will descend on his little town of Sunnyvale and try to kill him.

As if that weren't enough, things get even more complicated when Jack discovers that the Lord of the Creach (as the monsters are collectively known) holds a personal grudge against him and will do anything to see that Jack has a slow and painful death. To stay alive and save his friends, Jack will have to battle werewolves, vampires, harpies, trolls, zombies and more. But perhaps the most dangerous thing he must face is the truth about his past. Why do the other hunters call him the last Templar? Why do they whisper that he may be the "One?" Why do the monsters want him dead so badly? Even as these questions plague him, he quickly discovers survival is his new full-time job and that in the world of monster hunters, nothing is really what it seems.

You can pick up a copy at any of these place:






Now for a super special treat...
a character guest post from 
Jack Templar's Best Friend...
Will Akers!



Hi everyone. This is Will Akers, Jack Templar’s right hand man. You probably heard about me in our book Jack Templar Monster Hunter. I say “our” book since it really could have been called Jack And Will: Monster Hunters. But I guess since Jack wrote the entire thing, he felt like going with the title he had.

I know Jack and Eva were pretty mad when the book got out to regular people. You know…non-hunters. Or, as some people at the Academy call them, Creach-bait.

But I was happy the book got out. I know, I know, everyone’s worried about how reading the book attracts monsters to the reader and inevitably drags the reader into our world of man versus monsters. You know what I say? About time.

I mean, come on. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to become a monster
hunter? It’s by far the coolest thing that’s happened to me, I’ll tell you that much.

Even when we’re being chased by a flock of mad harpies, or facing down an entire field of zombies, or being pursued by Ren Lucre, the Dark Lord of the Creach himself, I was still having the time of my life.

The way I look at it, what’s not to love? You’re doing something really important, you’re helping others, you get to use cool weapons and fight against heinous monsters. Oh, and you don’t have to go to school. As far as I’m concerned, that’s like
winning the lottery.

I guess there’s the fact that there aren’t many hunters who live past thirty. The luck runs out for even the best hunters eventually. Turns out no matter how good you are, if you try to face down a pack of werewolves or a coven of vampires on your own, it’s not going to turn out well. But I’m only fourteen. Thirty is forever away so I’m not too worried about it.

One thing I do worry about is all this talk of Jack being “the One.” Other hunters who meet him always have a weird reaction when they find out who he is. They either keep their distance like they are scared of him or they act like he’s some kind of celebrity. I mean, he’s super cool and all, but he’s just Jack. I just hope that he doesn’t start taking too many chances trying to live up to his own hype. Either way, I’ll be right next to him. As we say, Do your duty, come what may. I look at keeping Jack alive as my duty and I intend to see it through, no matter what happens.

I hope you join the fight. It’s quite a ride.
Will Akers.





Author Bio:
Jeff Gunhus grew up in Cyprus, Greece, and Saudi Arabia where there was a distinct lack of television. He quickly found books were the gateway to incredible adventures, fascinating characters and unbelievable discoveries. Now, with five children of his own (all who watch too much television, in his opinion), he has enjoyed revisiting his old books and reliving those adventures all over again.


You can find Jeff Gunhus online:


Jack Templar Monster Hunter Tour



Tour hashtag: #jacktemplar
Twitter Party: Friday, Dec. 21 6 pm - 8 pm EST

Big Prize Pack can be found on Girl Who Reads.


Special Swag Prize Pack for Alli's World readers:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving



Day 9 is "a book you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving." I try not to have too many expectations going into reading a book. I love pretty covers but I know that doesn't necessarily reflect the material inside those fancy covers. 

I think one book I didn't know if I'd like or not was Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. It was a book club choice, which I've had bad experience with book choices before in a book club. And the cover is pretty cool but I saw those scrolly towers and was a bit afraid this would be some kind of weird historical read or something. Fortunately, I went on and read this and it turned out to be one of my favorite reads of the year! See my review here.


Saturday, December 8, 2012

#HARKEN Cover Reveal & Book Trailer

Harken is the upcoming book by Kaleb Nation. Um, from everything I've seen it looks like it is going to be a GREAT book. Go ahead and put this one on your reading calendars, Harken comes out January 13, 2013. The cover was just recently revealed and here's the book trailer so you can get excited about Harken with me!

Pretty awesome cover, huh?


The cover reveal video! Also amazing.


Video in which author, Kaleb Nation, talks about Harken! To watch this video is to want to read the book!!

Day 08 – Most overrated book


Day 8 is the "most overrated book." I don't really like this topic. Who am I to say a book is overrated? Just because I didn't like the book doesn't mean others should not like it. And most of the books I've read this year I have really enjoyed.

I will say a book that a lot of my friends seemed enjoy that I didn't like as much was A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. See my review here. But I gotta tell you the story isn't bad. And I got a chance to speak with author Deborah Harkness at YALLFest this year. She said she wrote A Discovery of Witches to be a book that you couldn't just fly through. Just speaking with her a few moments and I understood more where she was coming from with the book and now I'm more excited to read the second one, Shadow of Night, that came out earlier this year. 


Friday, December 7, 2012

Day 07 – Most underrated book




I think the "most underrated book" I read this year is Night of the Purple Moon by Scott Cramer. I was sent a copy of this book for review, which you can see here. I didn't have any expectations going into reading it but I was blown away at how good it really was!