Winner!

Thank you to everyone that participated in this giveaway!! 

I have added a few more books to my To-Read shelf based on your favorite

Kick-Butt Characters.

The winner for this giveaway is Lis.  I have sent an email notification already.  Remember, I must hear back in 24 hours or I draw another winner.

Kick Butt Characters

This blog hop features Young Adult novels that feature a "kick butt" character.  I have chosen to give away a copy of

Hush Hush

SIGNED by Becca Fitzpatrick

(Open to US and Internationally)

To be eligible for this giveaway you need to:

First, make sure you are a follower of this site by clicking on the blue "join this site" button (if your picture doesn't come up under followers you won't win the book).

Second, leave a comment with your favorite "kick-butt" character and the book they are in along with your email address so I can contact you in case you win.

This giveaway is running from right now through March 29, 2012 at 11:59 PM (Mountain Time). The winner will be drawn randomly using random.org and the winner will be posted on this blog some time on March 30, 2012 as well as sent an email. If I don't hear back from the winner within 24 hours of my email I will draw another winner.

There are over 150 blogs in this hop all giving away a book so make sure and visit their sites.

Scarlet By: A.C. Gaughen

Many readers know the tale of Robin Hood, but they will be swept away by this new version full of action, secrets, and romance.

Posing as one of Robin Hood’s thieves to avoid the wrath of the evil Thief Taker Lord Gisbourne, Scarlet has kept her identity secret from all of Nottinghamshire. Only the Hood and his band know the truth: the agile thief posing as a whip of a boy is actually a fearless young woman with a secret past. Helping the people of Nottingham outwit the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham could cost Scarlet her life as Gisbourne closes in.

It’s only her fierce loyalty to Robin—whose quick smiles and sharp temper have the rare power to unsettle her—that keeps Scarlet going and makes this fight worth dying for.


I LOVE re-told stories with a twist.  This is the story of Robin Hood.  Scarlet is one of the "merry en", the one we know as Will Scarlet.  She has managed to keep her identity a secret from everyone.  In fact only a handful of people actually know she is actually a girl. 

She is extremely talented at not being noticed and stealing.  She helps Robin mark people for highway toll stops and she is the go to person with needing to break someone out of prison.  Things are going great for her and the guys until they hear that the Sheriff has brought in an expert thief catcher.  Scarlet knows him from her life before Robin Hood and the gang and his presence threatens to bring her past to the present.

I really liked Scarlet.  She was a smart girl and she had learned how to live on her own and to also take care of the people around her.  She doesn't have the personality to turn her head when a stranger is being treated badly, she stands up and fights for what is right.  I think that she is a great role-model, (thief occupation aside) for teens everywhere. 

I also really liked Robin, John and Much.  Robin was my favorite.  He is the ultimate hero.  He cares for Scarlet and is constantly looking over his shoulder to see where she is and tries to do things for her, even when she doesn't want him to. 

The only problem that I had with the book is where you would normally say "was" they had "were" to show a lower class style of speech.  It was really annoying for the first few chapters but after a while I wasn't noticing as much because the story got more intense.

Great Read and I recommend it to everyone!!  :-)

The Devil of Jedburgh By: Claire Robyns

The only thing worse than being hand-fasted to the Devil of Jedburgh was falling in love with him.

Raised on rumors of The Devil of Jedburgh, Breghan McAllen doesn't want an arranged marriage to the beast. The arrogant border laird is not the romantic, sophisticated husband Breghan dreams of—despite the heat he stirs within her.

In need of an heir, Arran has finally agreed to take a wife, but when he sees Breghan's fragile beauty, he's furious. He will not risk the life of another maiden by getting her with child. Lust prompts him to offer a compromise: necessary precautions, and hand-fasting for a year and a day, after which Breghan will be free.

For a chance to control her own future, Breghan makes a deal with the Devil. Passion quickly turns to love, but Arran still has no intention of keeping the lass, or making her a mother. He loves her too much to lose her. But when a treasonous plot threatens queen and country, Breghan has to prove only she is woman enough to stand by his side.

This was a pretty good story.  I am a complete sucker for anything to do with Scotland so I jumped at the chance to read this story from NetGalley.

Arran has a reputation, a HUGE reputation.  He is known as the Devil of Jedburgh. Breghan's father sets up a marriage between the two of them and being afraid Breghan runs from her house the night before the wedding.  She meant to cool her head and return but she gets shot by an arrow and is cared for by a gentleman and his two companions.   When she finds out that the gentleman that helps her is the one that she is to marry she decides to hide her identity and try to get away.  

I really liked Arran.  Of course he is a strong man and he leads his people fairly, even if there is a lot of fear involved.  He also has a lot of fears of his own.  He is deeply attracted to Breghan and he wants to be with her but he is afraid.  Breghan is so small of frame that his is afraid of ever letting her carry a child.  Then there is an insecurity of her using the handfasting to barter with her dad for  a future right to marry another man.

Breghan is the youngest in a large family of all boys.  She has been immensely spoiled by both her parents and all of her brothers.  She is quick to speak her opinion and is very sarcastic.  She hates the idea of being forced into marriage and to top that she is now joined with the subject of all her darkest nightmares. 

I loved reading the interaction between these two.  It was cute how both characters wanted the other but the misunderstandings and pride would get in the way.  This is a great romance and I loved that I could read their happily ever after.

Winner !!

Congratulations to our winner, Julci!!

I have sent you an email and you have 48 hours to relpy before I contact another winner. 

 

P.S.  Thank you to everyone for stopping by and sharing your favorite books and series, I have so many new books added to my to-read list!

 

Random Acts of Kindness Blog Hop

February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day and
what better way to celebrate
than participating in a giveaway hop!

For this blog hop I will be giving away either:

A $20.00 Amazon Gift Card (US Only)

Or

a choice of either

Wolves, Boys and Other Things that Might Kill Me By: Kristen Chandler

Or

Crossed By: Ally Condie

(Book choice is open internationally)

To be eligible for this giveaway you need to:

First, make sure you are a follower of this site by clicking on the blue "join this site" button (if your picture doesn't come up under followers you won't win the book).

Second, leave a comment with your favorite book or series and your email address so I can contact you in case you win.

This giveaway is running from right now through February 21, 2012 at 11:59 PM (Mountain Time). The winner will be drawn randomly using random.org and the winner will be posted on this blog some time on February 22, 2012 as well as sent an email. If I don't hear back from the winner within 24 hours of my email I will draw another winner.

There are over 100 blogs in this hop all giving away a book so make sure and visit their sites.

Dark Seeker By: Taryn Browning

She's the Seeker. He's the hunted. What's at stake could kill them both...

For 17-year-old Seeker, Janie Grey, ridding the Baltimore streets of the undead is an inherited duty passed down from her Cherokee ancestors. Seeker Training Lesson #1: Never trust the undead. After her father’s tragic death, Janie creates her own life lesson: Love isn’t worth the risk. Both lessons are easy to follow until she encounters the flawed Kai Sterdam. At first, she believes he is the hybrid she is trained to hunt. But, when he has human traits, she determines she doesn’t know what he is. As Janie’s intrigue over who Kai is pushes her deeper into his mysterious past, she discovers a shocking truth that is even more harrowing than the evil they are up against. It’s a secret Kai wants to keep hidden, especially from Janie.



This was a fun, quick read. Janie is a Seeker.  Her job is to protect humanity from vampires, demons and a half breed called Daywalkers. While she is out she runs across Kai.  He moves like a Daywalker and but he doesn't give off the same vibes as one.  Slowly she gets to know him and finds that there are more human traits to him.  As time passes Kai keeps coming out of nowhere and saving her life and soon they develop a friendship/partnership.  Together the two of them learn more about a new threat on her town and need to stop it before more people are in danger.

Janie is a strong girl and a bit reckless.  She has been training to be a seeker for the majority of her life and it is a job that she is very good at.  I like that she was able to go beyond what she has always been told about Daywalkers and she was able to get to know Kai enough to see that they really were on the same side and appearances don't always make the man.  Because of this trait she was able to gain more allies in her fight against the evil she needed to fight. 

Kai was awesome.  He was a great fighter with a dark past/secret that terrified him.  He made sure that he was always available to help Janie and he worked hard at keeping her safe.  I like that even though he wanted to protect her he also let her do things on her own. 

Some of the other characters were great.  There is a vampire named Tanya that I loved.  At first you just see her as a pretty face to stand beside the vampire leader but she was funny and could kick but in heels.  Her mom and her trainer were even pretty cool towards the end of the book.
This was a pretty good story and I have already recommended it to others to read.  Even better is that this is only book one in the series, book two is scheduled to be released this year!