Sunday, May 24, 2015

[Giveaway] Maria V. Snyder's Official Poison Study Shirt



"Sieges Weathered, Fight Together, Friends Forever" - Maria V. Snyder, Poison Study

So back in 2014, Maria V. Snyder, author of the bestselling Study series, launched a t-shirt campaign featuring a beautiful design based off of one of Janco's many memorable quotes in Poison Study. I missed the opportunity to get one back then, but Maria was kind enough to send me one to give away to you guys!

As some of you may know, Maria is one of my favorite authors, so if you haven't checked out her books yet, you should! You can also find my review for her latest work, Shadow Study, here.

This particular shirt is a white long sleeved shirt in medium (runs big).


Although you can no longer order them, click here for the link to the original campaign to get the full design and details.

US only (sorry, international shipping is so expensive!)
Please don't pick up entries you didn't do.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

BookExpo America/BookCon 2015 Must See Authors

BEA is only one week away! 
I am beyond excited and have been working on my schedule (that I probably won't be able to follow) for some time now. This will be my first year attending BEA and the second time attending BookCon. Since BEA is moving to Chicago next year, this is probably my first and last year going as Chicago is way too far, so it's all the more special.

 I also ordered my first ever business cards a few weeks ago and I can't wait to give them out! :-)

Here is my list of some of my anticipated authors at BEA/BookCon - hopefully I can make it to all of them! So many things overlap (Friday & Saturday especially) so it's going to be interesting.
BEA
Alexandra Bracken - Passenger
Virgina Boecker - The Witch Hunter
Amy Ewing - The White Rose
Sara Raasch - Snow Like Ashes
Eleanor Herman - Legacy of Kings
Marie Lu - The Rose Society
Carrie Ryan - Daughter of Deep Silence
Leigh Bardugo - Six of Crows
Richelle Mead - Soundless
Rae Carson - To Walk On Earth A Stranger
...and many more!

BookCon
Renee Ahdieh
Marie Lu
Sabaa Tahir
Felicia Day
Abi Ketner & Missy Kalicicki 

Will you be attending BEA or BookCon? Who are you most excited to see? Let me know!



Thursday, May 14, 2015

[Review] Tangled Webs by Lee Bross


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Tangled Webs by Lee Bross

Rating: 4 Stars
Series: Tangled Webs #1
Version: ARC
Release Date: June 23, 2015


Goodreads synopsis:
London, 1725. Everybody has a secret. Lady A will keep yours—for a price. This sumptuous, scandalous YA novel is wickedly addictive.

Lady A is the most notorious blackmailer in the city. With just a mask and a gown to disguise her, she sweeps into lavish balls and exclusive events collecting the most valuable currency in 1725 London—secrets.

But leading a double life isn't easy. By day Lady A is just a sixteen-year-old girl named Arista who lives in fear of her abusive master, Bones, and passes herself off as a boy to move safely through the squalor of London's slums. When Bones attempts to dispose of his pawn forever, Arista is rescued by the last person she expects: Jonathan Wild, the infamous Thief Taker General who moves seamlessly between the city's criminal underworld and its most elite upper circles. Arista partners with Wild on her own terms in the hopes of saving enough money to buy passage out of London.

Everything changes when she meets Graeden Sinclair, the son of a wealthy merchant. Grae has traveled the world, has seen the exotic lands Arista has longed to escape to her whole life, and he loves Arista for who she is—not for what she can do for him. Being with Grae gives something Arista something precious that she swore off long ago: hope. He has promised to help Arista escape the life of crime that has claimed her since she was a child. But can you ever truly escape the past? 

*I received this ARC from Meghann @ Becoming Books as a guest reviewer, so this review was originally posted on Becoming Books!*

This is literally the first non-fantasy YA novel I've read in months! I actually can't remember the last time I read a book without any fantasy elements, so I was curious to see whether I'd like Tangled Webs, which is sort of a historical fiction. The book is set in 18th century London, where an orphan girl named Arista navigates the London social scene as a notorious blackmailer. The premise is interesting and certainly unique, but it was a bit slow at first and actually took me several days to finish it. It got really good in the last quarter of the novel, which is probably a little too late but nevertheless boosted the rating. I actually started tearing up the last two chapters because of a certain someone, which I absolutely did not expect with this novel. That just goes to show that Lee Bross does an excellent job making readers fall in love with the characters.

I was under the impression that there would be a love triangle, but Arista and the reader both knew that there was only one guy for her from the very start and that was great. I don't mind love triangles too much, but it was consistent with her character; Arista isn't one to dilly dally. I didn't care for the romance as much as I did the story since I didn't find it too believable. Since this is set in the early 18th century, the fast paced nature of Arista and Grae's relationship is probably normal, but to me, it just went way too fast and I would have liked to see more development.

As for the characters, Lee did a wonderful job developing all of them and it was nice to see a strong supporting cast. Although some of the decisions Arista made were frustrating, I didn't hold it against her. Grae is an absolutely sweetheart and is someone you just want to protect and hug all the time. Nic is also very well developed and multi-dimensional and by the end, he probably became one of my favorite characters in this story. However, I thought that Lee could have done a better job with Bones, the villain. The best villain is one that readers can almost sympathize with, but this guy is downright hateful with absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever; I hated him right until the end. Wild was much more interesting and multi-dimensional, though.

Overall, this was a good book for me to get off the fantasy track (though the next book I read will still probably be fantasy haha), and reminded me of why I enjoy reading YA historical fiction. It appears to be a series, but I thought it ended nicely the way it did and I still would have been satisfied had this been a standalone.



Tuesday, May 12, 2015

[Book Blitz] The Wrath & The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh



I am so excited that THE WRATH AND THE DAWN by Renée Ahdieh releases today and that I get to share the news, along with a special introduction from Renée herself!
If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Renée Ahdieh, be sure to check out all the details below.

This blitz also includes a giveaway for a signed copies of the book and some beautiful book inspired scarves, courtesy of Renée, Penguin Teen, and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.


A letter from Renée Ahdieh

There are not enough words to express how thrilled I am to share THE WRATH AND THE DAWN with you! From the moment I typed the first word, I felt connected to Shahrzad and her world in a way that carried me through the long process of publication to where we are today. 

Everything about this process has been a dream come true, and hope you love my book half as much as I enjoyed writing it. In celebration of release day, I'll be giving away a signed, first edition hardcover of the book, as well as a gorgeous scarf . . . or two!

Always remember to make it a story worthy of you!

Renée


About The Book:

Title: THE WRATH & THE DAWN
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Pub. Date: May 12, 2015
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
Pages: 388
A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all. 




About Renée:

Renée lives in North Carolina (Go Heels!) with her husband Victor and their dog Mushu. Her YA fantasy novel, THE WRATH AND THE DAWN, will be published on May 12th, 2015. In her spare time, she likes to cook, dance salsa, and wreak havoc on the lives of her characters.
She’s also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, as well as an active member of theScience Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America.















Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a hardcover of THE WRATH AND THE DAWN and a beautiful book inspired scarf (IMAGES BELOW)! US Only.

Ends on May 22nd at Midnight EST


a Rafflecopter giveaway






Friday, May 1, 2015

BookCon: What to Expect and Tips


So last year all of us here at Wonderland Novels went to BookCon for the first time. We didn't know what to expect since it was the first BookCon ever so we thought that it would be a good idea to share our experiences and some tips that we have!

BookCon is, as described by ReedPOP, "where storytelling and pop culture collide". Whereas Book Expo America is dedicated to those of the trade, BookCon is primarily for consumers.




What it was like:
  • - I got to the Harlequin Teen booth about 45 minutes early, and here I was thinking I would be one of the first few people on line. Wrong. The line had already officially closed by then since they only had a limited number of ARCs for authors to sign. However, me and several others waited anyway just in case. Julie Kagawa, one of my favorite authors, was signing so I wanted the opportunity to meet her! So basically we had to wait in a non-moving line since it hadn't even officially opened for 45 minutes, and then another 45 minutes to wait my turn. Now I know that these things tend to be crowded but that was the longest time I've waited in line for anything and I hope lines at BEA aren't that long! -Alice

  • I had a similar experience for the autograph sessions in the back. Tickets for the signings ran out super fast. (before we even got there the tickets were gone) When I walked past the autographing section I saw that there were still some lines still open, so I got on the line just in case. But an employee told us a couple minutes later that the line was too full so a bunch of us got kicked off the line. - Yiling
  • Panel with Cassandra Clare, Holly Black,
    and Maggie Steifvater.
  • With the panels, it differed. I went to one with Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, and Maggie Steifvater and the crowd outside was crazy. There were supposed to be "lines" but it was just a huge mess of people and I was unsure if me and Sarah were going to get places inside the panel room but once we got inside, there was plenty of space! Some people ended up standing in the back, but since some people left in middle of the panel, there ended up being a couple of seats open towards the end. -Yiling
  • So I didn't really have any particular authors to go to (I wanted to see Rick Riordan, but again, too crowded/too long lines), but I really wanted to meet David Karp, creator of Tumblr, and Brandon Stanton, founder of HONY. The panel was crowded, but not too bad. With getting their autographs, not as bad either in terms of waiting. Their whole interview was interesting as well! - Raisa 
  • Also, since I was wandering around, I did manage to get a good amount of free books and goodies, enter a couple of contests, all sorts of things. It does help to have the BookCon app on you, but sometimes it's just being in the right place at the right time, because these things do tend to go out pretty quickly. - Raisa 
(Since this was the first year of Bookcon, they were still working out kinks. From what I heard, the company will be trying to resolve these issues and they have expanded the space from last year!)


Tips for BookCon:
  1. Be comfortable: This is kind of a general rule for any con. You're going to be standing/ walking for a long time so definitely dress for comfort. (I would suggest that you wear sneakers.) Also bring at least one bottle of water to stay hydrated. 
  2. Storage: A great thing about BookCon is that there is a lot of free stuff being given out: books, posters, bookmarks, etc. so you're definitely going to want something to carry all the stuff around in. I would suggest bringing a small backpack/ bag so you can store everything you receive in it. There are a lot of tote bags being given out through the con, but I would still suggest having something to carry around all the stuff that you might get in the beginning before you get a bag. If you're anticipating getting a ton of books, BookCon has a coat check for you to store a suitcase for three dollars. Make sure you lock up your stuff if you do check in a bag, since I have heard of people stealing things from suitcases.
  3. Bring Rubber Bands: This might seem like an odd tip but a lot of booths give out posters. I had to fold most of my posters which left a huge (and uneven) crease in the middle and eventually landed at the bottom of my bag all crumpled up. If you bring rubber bands this crease nightmare will not be an issue!
  4. Make a Schedule: Plan out a schedule of authors and events that you want to see and make note of where and when they all take place. It doesn't matter if they overlap because chances are that you are not going to see all of them. Making a schedule is great way of staying on top of events so you if find that there is a period of time where you aren't doing anything, you can just look to your schedule! 
  5. Money?: A big question that I had before I went to BookCon was how much money I should bring and I think that this depends on the individual. There are booths that sell books so if you plan on buying books, bring money for them. It's often not necessary. Some authors do charge you for the book if you plan on getting them to sign it but most for signings/autographings the books are provided. But you should definitely bring money for lunch.
  6. Snacks: Going off of lunch money, you may not have a lot of time to eat and you're going to need a lot of energy, so bring some snacks with you. Granola bars work well. 
  7. Stay Connected: Download the BookCon app. There's a whole community all about BookCon and they'll let you know all about BookCon and what's going on. Last year, I remember constantly checking the app to know what signings were full, which authors were where, etc. Everybody is super helpful and kind and it's nice to stay updated! You can also use twitter for this, but it might be harder to find people who are specifically talking about BookCon. 
I hope that our tips and experiences helped you guys! If you have any questions or have experiences of your own to share, please let us know in the comments below!