The Time Will Come by C.J. Skuse + Giveaway

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The Time Will Come - 

Every Thursday l am going to list a book which l really want to read/keep meaning to get to. These are mostly books which have been on my shelf for awhile now but don't have to be, maybe you got it two weeks ago and really want to read it! 

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Want to join in?

- Pick a book you have been meaning to read

- Do a post telling us about the book 

- Link the post up in the linky

- Visit the other blogs!

Please Welcome C.J. Skuse

Author Of:

Pretty Bad Things

Rockaholic

So Jodie said ‘Pick a book you own that you’ve left on your shelf for ages unread and talk a little about why you haven’t read it yet.’ But there were SOOOO many contenders for this, I’m embarrassed to say. They sit on my bookshelves glaring at me right now, disapproval oozing from their spines. ‘Why don’t you stop dicking about with that Kindle and pick us up?’ they sneer. But I don’t. And here’s why... 

I tend to treat buying books like I’m saving lives. Like I’m afraid the bookshop or the Amazon warehouse is going to go up in flames if I don’t immediately rescue them and take them home and stroke them (they like that) and keep them safe on my bookshelves. This does mean that while I have potentially saved quite a few paper lives in my time, some of them have gone unread and unnoticed for many moons. SO many comics and graphic novels have gone this way, largely because Forbidden Planet had a hella good sale on and I went to a Comic Con and wanted to look like just one of the geeks (see Fables 11 onwards, China Mieville’s Un Lun Dun and Hack Slash Omnibus 2).
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is also sitting, looking at me with sad little blue eyes, wondering if it’s ever going to get picked up. My excuse for this one is that I know what happens in the end cos I walked in when the film was on and saw the last few scenes. So that makes me not want to read it cos I don’t like sad endings. I’m almost phobic about it. 

Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen is another victim. I bought this in a Target in Chicago in 2009. I’m so petrified that this book is going to have an unhappy or unsatisfying ending, I can’t bring myself to read it. I need to trust this author before I let her take me down that road. That’s the thing about the way I read – an author can put me through whatever meltdowns and tragedies he or she wants to, I’ll roll with them all, but ultimately if they give me an unsatisfactory ending or they kill off one of my favourite characters, or they make the hot boy soul mate of the main character just disappear for an entire book (I direct my cross face at YOU Ms Stephenie Meyer) I’ll never forgive them for it. A lot of award winning novels do this and it’s probably why I’ll never write an award-winner; killing characters or even just banishing them might be the honourable, brave or fitting thing to do for the plot and I praise authors who can do it, but for me it’s like hurting members of my own family. There’s enough grief in my real life without offing my imaginary friends too!
So in short, I’m an absolute coward. I live in fear of investing myself in an author’s world until I completely trust them not to leave me stranded in it. Disappointing endings that leave you on a cliff face or books in which one of your favourite characters is brutally done away with in an instant, have been known to send me into quite a tantrum (JK Rowling and Suzanne Collins I wag an accusatory finger at you both as I say this).
It’s a poor excuse – I should just suck it up I guess and get the things read – but I know what I like and that’s how I try to write too. Like a coward. Or rather like a person who has known true heartache and wants to protect her dear and treasured readers from that. Nah, I really am just a cowards.Thank you C.J. for an awesome guest post, I just love your sense of humour and it really shows in your books! I hope you get round to some of them =)

Find C.J.

The Book Depository
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Amazon (UK/USA)

Giveaway

Rules :

UK Only

1st November 2011

Enter :

Fill in THIS Form

Waiting on Wednesday by Amy Plum

Please welcome Amy Plum! 

Author Of :

Die For Me

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event hosted at Breaking The Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Legend - Marie Lu
Published : 29th November 2011
Publisher : Putnam Juvenile
Marie’s book came into my radar last year when LEGEND was bought by the same German publisher who bought my book. The publisher’s reader, who I had gotten to know and whose taste I trust, emailed to tell me it was one of the best books she had recently read. So I looked Marie up and found that she is not only a writer, but an awesome artist as well. And she had created a Facebook app with a game that went along with the book.
So that piqued my interest. Marie is so incredibly artistic and brimming with creativity, I couldn’t wait to see how that translated onto the written page. And then I read the summary, and I was even more hooked. This sounds like a dystopian that I am really going to enjoy, and I am counting the days until LEGEND is out!

The Blurb :

What was once the western United States is now home to the Republic, a nation perpetually at war with its neighbors. Born into an elite family in one of the Republic's wealthiest districts, fifteen-year-old June is a prodigy being groomed for success in the Republic's highest military circles. Born into the slums, fifteen-year-old Day is the country's most wanted criminal. But his motives may not be as malicious as they seem.

From very different worlds, June and Day have no reason to cross paths - until the day June's brother, Metias, is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. Caught in the ultimate game of cat and mouse, Day is in a race for his family's survival, while June seeks to avenge Metias's death. But in a shocking turn of events, the two uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

Find Amy :

Goodreads

Website

Amazon (UK/USA)

The Book Depository

Thank you so much to Amy for doing this guest post for me. I think Legend sounds like an awesome book and I hope you enjoy it! =)

You can be in the chance to win Amy's book, Die For Me on Friday so make sure you come back!

My Top Ten Bloggers

My Top Ten Bloggers

There is so many blogs which I enjoy visiting and this post doesn't even include half of them!

I just wanted to make a little list so that people could find some new blogs and also give a mention to some of the blogs I enjoy reading.

In no order

UK Bloggers!

The Slowest Bookworm - A great blogger friend with  a great blog!

Jess Hearts Books - I am in love with Jess's layout and I love her posts.

The Keeper Shelf - Lesley's IMM is one to look out for me as well as her reviews.

Book Passion For Life - Every time I go on this blog I want to read every post!

Daisy Chain Book Reviews - I really trust Leanna's thoughts on books, same taste!

The Great, The Good and The Bad - A lovely blog run by a lovely blogger.

Always Lost In Stories - I have been following this blog for a long time now!

Cheezyfeet Books - Bright and colourful blog with great posts.

That Book Blog - Love this blog and the posts =)

International Bloggers!

Fragments Of Life - An honest blog that I love visiting

I Swim For Oceans - Great blog for in depth reviews

Books with Bite - Savy is constantly adding great reviews.

Pure Imagination - An easy blog to get around with great posts.

Rabid Reads - The place I find my paranormal books!

Small Review - Small is such a lovely blogger with a great humour - Made to blog!

Splash Of Our Worlds - Love the movie + book reviews + random posts

Loving Books - Great for reading reviews on books that may be on your TBR!

The Unread Reader - Missie has a so many unique posts and memes

Miss Page-Turners - You are sure to find new blogs here!

Sorry it isn't in more depth! 

Other Blogs

Gripped Into Books

Funny Wool

Stories and Sweeties

The Overflowing Bookshelf

Wondrous Reads

The Beaucoup Review

The Reading Fever

Book Chick City

Top Ten by Martyn Bedford + UK & EUR Giveaway

Please welcome Martyn Bedford!

Author of -
Flip
 Black Cat
The Houdina Girl

Martyn Bedford’s Top 10 Places

In my teens and twenties I spent a lot of time travelling. In three separate trips totalling nearly two years, I hauled an increasingly grubby, smelly and battered backpack around Europe, North America, Australia, South-East Asia and the Far East. I kept diaries during these journeys and have used some (though not many) of my experiences in my writing – not as travelogue or autobiography, but fictionalised into short stories or scenes and episodes within my novels.

These days, “travelling”, for me, is family holidays with my wife and daughters. Two weeks in Spain, a week in Greece, a rented cottage in Norfolk or Northumberland. That sort of thing.  I don’t even own a backpack anymore. But I have many, many memories of those trips in my youth and can get quite wistful about them after a couple of beers and the slightest encouragement.

So, here, in no particular order, are the ten favourite places I visited back in the day:

Kagbeni, Nepal.

By far the strangest settlement I passed through on a 16-day hike in the Himalayas. A mountain village of mud-plastered buildings, like something from the Middle Ages – Nepali women threshing wheat on the flat roofs and the steep, narrow streets resonating to the sound of hundreds of Buddhist prayer wheels clicking in the wind.

Melbourne, Australia.

Of all the cities I’ve visited around the world, this is where I could most imagine living if I ever decided to emigrate from the UK. An attractive, cosmopolitan city, rich in culture. I spent three or four days enjoyable there in the mid-1980s and liked it every bit as much when I returned for a week in 2006 to take part in the Melbourne Writers’ Festival.

Borobudur, Indonesia.

A remarkable ancient monument, a kind of Buddhist pyramid of stone terraces decorated with Buddha statues and stupas and fluttering flags, set among rainforests and volcanoes in the heart of Java. Many years later, I used it as the setting for one of the “bonus material” pieces I wrote for the UK edition of my teen/young adult novel, FLIP.

Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I liked the town itself but, really, Chiang Mai was a base for a four-day trek in the tribal villages and jungles of the Golden Triangle, where northern Thailand borders Burma (now Myanmar) and Laos. A wonderful if physically gruelling expedition among some of the friendliest people you could hope to meet. Even the dysentery that afflicted me for much of the trek couldn’t ruin the experience!

Koh Samui, Thailand.

Back in 1984, Koh Samui’s international airport had yet to be built and travellers could only get there by boat from the mainland. It was little changed, I imagine, from its 1960s and 70s heyday on the South-East Asian backpackers’ trail and I spent 12 lovely days there. A place of thatched huts, water-buffalo fights, beach parties and shoreline cafes selling hash cookies.

Grand Canyon, USA.

With an Italian guy I’d befriended on a Greyhound bus ride, I trekked down one of the nerve-janglingly steep trails that zigzag into the bottom of the canyon. We camped overnight beside the Colorado River and hiked back out again the next day. The first time you see the canyon from the rim is more breathtaking than any film footage or photos can possibly prepare you for.

Pagan, Burma (Myanmar).

Once the ancient capital, later to be displaced by Rangoon, Pagan is now a city of ruins – a surprisingly large area strewn with hundreds of Buddhist temples and stupas in various states of disrepair and partially overgrown with vegetation. A magical, haunting place, especially at sunrise when the peaks of the ruins emerge like ghosts from the wreaths of morning mist.

Hong Kong, China.

It still belonged to the UK when I visited. My mate Kevin and I were running low on money on our round-the-world trip so we detoured to Hong Kong to spend four months teaching English. We rented a poky room on the umpteenth floor of the (in)famous Chunking Mansions in Kowloon. An exciting, vibrant, teeming city with some surprising oases of calm on the smaller, outlying islands.

Jaiselmer, India.

Almost as weird-looking as Kagbeni. The ancient fortress town of Jaiselmer  – not far from the Pakistani border – perches on a hill surrounded by the desert plains of Rajasthan, its sand-coloured stone glowing in the sunshine like honeycomb. It looks like something out of a (scary) fairytale. From there I went on a three-day camel ride in the desert. On a very grumpy, stumble-prone camel.

Siar Island, Papua New Guinea.

A tiny island off the north coast of PNG, it could only be reached (in those days, and maybe still) by paying a villager on the mainland to paddle you across the strait in a dugout canoe. The small, friendly community on Siar housed travellers (me, an Irish guy, an American and an Aussie girl) in a wooden guesthouse on stilts and fed us on rice, vegetables and shark, caught fresh from the sea.

To see Martyn's Top Ten list for body swapping books click here


Thank you for joining us at Books for Company, Martyn. Your so lucky to have been to so many places, you must have had amazing experiences!

Find Martyn

Amazon (UK/USA)

The Book Depository 

Website

Goodreads

Giveaway

Win a copy of Flip by Martyn Bedford

UK & EU (Europe) Only

Ends 1st November

How to Enter :
Fill in THIS FORM

Cover Crazy by Jennifer Brown + US Giveaway

Please welcome Jennifer Brown!

Author of - 

Hate List

Bitter End

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Ordinarily, I am not a huge choose-a-book-by-the-cover type of gal. A lot of the time, I don’t even notice the cover design of a book. However, I do have some covers that I’m absolutely in love with.

One of them (cover I am in love with) is the cover of my second book, Bitter End. The first time I saw the cover, I was immediately in love. I loved the warm hues, the mysterious, downcast face of the model, the ominous hand creeping around her shoulder, and especially the poem written behind the title.
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I also love the cover of David Levithan’s Every You, Every Me. I love the juxtaposition of the title words, and the austere feel of the photograph behind them. The cover tells a story of its own, or at least makes promises of a story. The flipped title, the black and white, the somber expression—all suggest a stark and poignant story that I can’t wait to read.

Just Your Average Princess - Kristina Springer

But the book cover that I’m most in love with at the moment is Kristina Springer’s Just Your Average Princess. Everything, from the buttery yellow of the formal gown with the bit of tulle peeking out below, to the flirty-yet-ornery look on the model’s face, to the big, ugly black boots, to the giant hay bale, to the way she’s straddling the hay bale oh-so-unashamedly is eye-catching. I want to know this story. What’s up with the sprig of flowers and the fancy dress? Who is this girl and how is it that she still screams princess even when she’s, clearly, acting so un-princessy? The cover of this book looks fun and flirty and inviting and it makes me stop and look every time I come across it.
Hosted by The Book Worms

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Thank you for joining me Jennifer to help me celebrate my Blogoversary! I really like all the covers you mentioned and can't agree more about the Bitter End cover!

Find Jennifer

Goodreads

Website

Amazon (UK/USA)

Book Depository

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Win a copy of Bitter End

This is US only - Jennifer is sending this book out!

Ends 1st November
Fill in rafflecopter below

Thanks Jennifer