Tonya Hurley is here today to talk about her book Precious Blood. There's also a fantastic contest that you can sign up for below!
Saints and Sinners Tour By Tonya Hurley PRECIOUS BLOOD is the tale of three Brooklyn teenagers – Lucy, Cecilia and Agnes – who are at the lowest point of their lives when they encounter Sebastian, an enigmatic guy who believes that each of them may be the incarnation of a namesake historic female martyr.
These martyr legends are some of the first young adult stories that we have. These girls are possibly the first young adult superstars on record – their tales of passion, strength, struggle, the supernatural, suffering, and devotion are what all good love stories are made of.
In the book PRECIOUS BLOOD, the first in THE BLESSED trilogy, Cecilia, Agnes and Lucy are three girls struggling to make it in a gritty, modern day Brooklyn- looking for love, for fame, and for who they really are.
AGNES of THE BLESSED Trilogy
Agnes is in love with love. And, when Sebastian comes to her that fateful night in the emergency room, after her suicide attempt, she is ready to believe in love, and him, whole-heartedly. She is the youngest of the three girls, and a headstrong, hopeless romantic, consumed with the notion of ideal love.
A rebellious bohemian in both dress and attitude, Agnes is an open-minded, carefree spirit most comfortable in her long skirts and thrift store jewelry finds, writing journal entries in her homespun and loungy bedroom with cozy knitted blankets, silk robes, and embroidered cushions everywhere smelling of incense and burning candles. Hers is a world of vintage boutiques and flea market scores, which define her unconventional style and her artsy personality as well as her loyalty to the past and ability to see beauty in things. While she may be a sentimental daydreamer, Agnes is no pushover. She finds herself constantly at odds with her overbearing, divorced and decidedly more practical mother, Martha, with whom she shares a Park Slope brownstone. Martha pushes her toward guys with big futures and family money but Agnes pushes back, holding out for something genuine. Something real. Something everlasting.
Photo Credit: N atalie Shau
Precious Blood by Tonya Hurley Published: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (May 14th, 2013) Reading Level: Young Adult Summary: What if martyrs and saints lived among us? And what if you were told you were one of them? Meet Agnes, Cecilia, and Lucy. Three lost girls, each searching for something. But what they find is Beyond Belief. The story begins in PRECIOUS BLOOD and continues in PASSIONARIES, available 1/7/14.
Prize:
The Patron Saints of Summer Prize PackOne (1) winner receives:
· Earbuds (courtesy of Cecilia, Patron Saint of Music) · Sunglasses (courtesy of Lucy, Patron Saint of Sight) · Essie Chastity Nail Polish (courtesy of Agnes, Patron Saint of Chastity) · Copy of Precious Blood
· AND an Agnes t-shirt
Giveaway open to U.S. addresses only. Prizing & samples courtesy of Simon & Schuster.
Rules:
You must be at least 13 to enter.
Name and email must be provided and counts as 1 entry.
Extra entries are possible and links must be provided.
Contest is US Only and ends July1st
Once contacted, the winner will have 48 hours to respond.
The form must be filled out to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Learn more at http://theblessed.com Like The Blessed on Facebook Follow The Blessed and Tonya Hurley on Twitter and join the conversation using #PreciousBlood Follow The Blessed on Pinterest About the Author Tonya Hurley is the New York Times best-selling author of the highly acclaimed “ghostgirl “ book series; creator, writer and producer of animated and live action hit television series; writer and director of independent films; writer and director of commercials for Playstation, Gameboy and Warner Home Video; and creator of groundbreaking videogames. Her new young adult trilogy, THE BLESSED, begins with Precious Blood.
Praise for Precious Blood “Our new favorite dark, sexy rock-n-roll thriller.” (SugarScape.com) “Intriguing premise, fiery dialogue, and digs about celebrity-obsessed culture that moves at the speed of Twitter… ” (Publishers Weekly) "… Hurley brings her deadpan wit and blackest humor to the first tale in this trilogy about spirituality, sacrifice and supernatural romance." (MTV Hollywood Crush)
The rest of the Saints and Sinners tour: Monday, June 17: Meet Agnes the girl at Confessions of a Bookaholic and Agnes the Saint at Candace’s Book Blog.
Tuesday, June 18: Meet Cecilia the girl at Bewitched Bookworms and Cecilia the Saint at A Life Bound by Books. Wednesday, June 19: Meet Lucy the girl at The Reading Date and Lucy the Saint at All Things Urban Fantasy Thursday, June 20: Meet Sebastian the boy at Vampire Book Club and Sebastian the Saint at The Book Cellar. Friday, June 21: In Bed With Books has a Q&A with Tonya.
Title: Insurgent Author: Veronica Roth Publisher: HarperTeen Add to Goodreads One choice can transform you--or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves--and herself--while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.
Tris's initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable--and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.
"New York Times" bestselling author Veronica Roth's much-anticipated second book of the dystopian"Divergent" series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.
Title: Dreamless Author: Josephine Angelini Publisher: HarperTeen Add to Goodreads Can true love be forgotten?
As the only scion who can descend into the Underworld, Helen Hamilton has been given a nearly impossible task. By night she wanders through Hades, trying to stop the endless cycle of revenge that has cursed her family. By day she struggles to overcome the fatigue that is rapidly eroding her sanity. Without Lucas by her side, Helen is not sure she has the strength to go on.
Just as Helen is pushed to her breaking point, a mysterious new Scion comes to her rescue. Funny and brave, Orion shields her from the dangers of the Underworld. But time is running out--a ruthless foe plots against them, and the Furies' cry for blood is growing louder.
As the ancient Greek world collides with the mortal one, Helen's sheltered life on Nantucket descends into chaos. But the hardest task of all will be forgetting Lucas Delos.
Josephine Angelini's compelling saga becomes ever more intricate and spellbinding as an unforgettable love triangle emerges and the eternal cycle of revenge intensifies. Eagerly awaited, this sequel to the internationally bestselling Starcrossed delivers a gritty, action-packed love story that exceeds all expectations.
Title: Under the Never Sky Author: Veronica Rossi Publisher: HarperCollins Add to Goodreads Since she'd been on the outside, she'd survived an Aether storm, she'd had a knife held to her throat, and she'd seen men murdered. This was worse.
Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland — known as The Death Shop — are slim. If the cannibals don't get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She's been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He's wild — a savage — and her only hope of staying alive.
A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile — everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria's help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.
Title: Easy Author: Tammara Webber Add to Goodreads A girl who believes trust can be misplaced, promises are made to be broken, and loyalty is an illusion. A boy who believes truth is relative, lies can mask unbearable pain, and guilt is eternal. Will what they find in each other validate their conclusions, or disprove them all?
When Jacqueline follows her longtime boyfriend to the college of his choice, the last thing she expects is a breakup two months into sophomore year. After two weeks in shock, she wakes up to her new reality: she's single, attending a state university instead of a music conservatory, ignored by her former circle of friends, and failing a class for the first time in her life.
Leaving a party alone, Jacqueline is assaulted by her ex's frat brother. Rescued by a stranger who seems to be in the right place at the right time, she wants nothing more than to forget the attack and that night--but her savior, Lucas, sits on the back row of her econ class, sketching in a notebook and staring at her. Her friends nominate him to be the perfect rebound.
When her attacker turns stalker, Jacqueline has a choice: crumple in defeat or learn to fight back. Lucas remains protective, but he's hiding secrets of his own. Suddenly appearances are everything, and knowing who to trust is anything but easy.
Title: The Coincidence of Callie & Kayden Author: Jessica Sorensen Add to Goodreads There are those who don’t get luck handed to them on a shiny platter, who end up in the wrong place at the wrong time, who don’t get saved.
Luck was not on Callie’s side the day of her twelfth birthday when everything was stolen from her. After it’s all over, she locks up her feelings and vows never to tell anyone what happened. Six years later her painful past consumes her life and most days it’s a struggle just to breathe.
For as long as Kayden can remember, suffering in silence was the only way to survive life. As long as he did what he was told, everything was okay. One night, after making a terrible mistake, it seems like his life might be over. Luck was on his side, though, when Callie coincidentally is in the right place at the right time and saves him.
Now he can’t stop thinking about the girl he saw at school, but never really knew. When he ends up at the same college as Callie, he does everything he can to try to get to know her. But Callie is reserved and closed off. The more he tries to be part of her life, the more he realizes Callie might need to be saved.
Title: Sweet Evil Author: Wendy Higgins Publisher: HarperTeen Add to Goodreads Embrace the Forbidden
What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?
This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.
Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna.
Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?
Title: Pushing the Limits Author: Katie McGarry Publisher: Harlequin Teen Add to Goodreads No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with"freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal.But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.
Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.
Title: Stealing Parker Author: Miranda Kenneally Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire Add to Goodreads Red-hot author Miranda Kenneally hits one out of the park in this return to Catching Jordan's Hundred Oaks High.
Parker Shelton pretty much has the perfect life. She’s on her way to becoming valedictorian at Hundred Oaks High, she’s made the all-star softball team, and she has plenty of friends. Then her mother’s scandal rocks their small town and suddenly no one will talk to her.
Now Parker wants a new life.
So she quits softball. Drops twenty pounds. And she figures why kiss one guy when she can kiss three? Or four. Why limit herself to high school boys when the majorly cute new baseball coach seems especially flirty?
But how far is too far before she loses herself completely?
Title: Everneath Author: Brodi Ashton Publisher: HarperCollins Add to Goodreads Last spring, Nikki Beckett vanished, sucked into an underworld known as the Everneath. Now she's returned--to her old life, her family, her boyfriend--before she's banished back to the underworld.. this time forever. She has six months before the Everneath comes to claim her, six months for good-byes she can't find the words for, six months to find redemption, if it exists.
Nikki longs to spend these precious months forgetting the Everneath and trying to reconnect with her boyfriend, Jack, the person most devastated by her disappearance--and the one person she loves more than anything. But there's just one problem: Cole, the smoldering immortal who enticed her to the Everneath in the first place, has followed Nikki home. Cole wants to take over the throne in the underworld and is convinced Nikki is the key to making it happen. And he'll do whatever it takes to bring her back, this time as his queen.
As Nikki's time on the Surface draws to a close and her relationships begin slipping from her grasp, she is forced to make the hardest decision of her life: find a way to cheat fate and remain on the Surface with Jack or return to the Everneath and become Cole's queen.
Everneath is a captivating story of love, loss, and immortality from debut author Brodi Ashton.
Title: The Edge of Never Author: J.A. Redmerski Add to Goodreads Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.
Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.
With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.
But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart? Don't forget to share YOUR list on the Linky Below! Today's Top 10 of 2012 Giveaway is being hosted by — Jaime from Two Chicks on Books! Note: This is the SAME Linky on all Co-Hosts Blogs.
Please read:The post you are about to read is 100 % **Role Play All the characters represented here ( @The_Omega_ ) with the exception of Lisa and myself are **Role Players from a group on twitter. They have agreed to role play with us to help celebrate not only our Halloween Event, but also to help share our love for the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by author J.R. Ward, as these Role Players are also huge fans of J.R. Ward's works. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT NO ONE with this site/blog, Lisa's site/blog nor the role-playing group — which you can find with the list of twitter accounts provided — is in any way, shape or form connected to or affiliated with J.R. Ward. No one present or represented here is J.R. Ward, nor is the role playing intended for any purpose other than the personal enjoyment of the Role Players involved.
The following story contains some strong language and mature themes.The Favor by @The_Omega_ What is that spiteful b**** up to now?” I reached over to one of my pets, a strange mixed breed, part dragon, part cockatrice, all malevolence and anger. There are a total of six in existence. I bred them especially for aggression and protection, not that I really needed protecting or anything. But they come in handy when I need to intimidate my lessers. Or others. As I ran my arm over his bumpy scales, I thought back to the day the Scribe Virgin came to ask me a favor. It seems one of her precious warriors needed to be taught a lesson. He was a strong bastard and she had nothing with which she could impress upon him the lessons she felt he was in sore need of learning. I knew it was a sharp blow to her pride to have to come to me for anything. She had always been favored, in everything, and was loathe to have to ask me for help of any kind. In this it was no different. She entered my domain with a gust behind her, carrying that cursed scent from her Fade with her. “ Could I possibly borrow one of your dragons? I wish to curse one of my warriors, to teach him how to control himself and as I can think of nothing more out of control than your creatures, one of them would work nicely to punish him,” she asked without a hint of humility. She was asking me a favor and didn’t even have the decency to bow before me. I just looked at her, not saying a word. I could tell she was becoming impatient as she began to explain very quickly. “Rhage is impulsive and quick tempered. He’s also very strong and could take out many of your army before they even realize he’s there. It would be in your best interest for this warrior to be tamed.” I was hesitant to trust anything she said. I’m probably the only one who knows her truly. When our Father made us, it was assumed that she got the light while I got the darkness. We are supposedly two halves of a whole — she the positive and I the negative. Quite inaccurate. Our Father was mostly darkness and while it’s true all I got was that, it is also true that my dear sibling, while getting mostly goodness, also got a hefty dose of evil to go with it. She had a wicked mean streak that even her favorite monsters couldn’t escape. I would have said no out of hand, but I thought this would be an excellent way to dispatch of the Brotherhood immediately. I decided I would allow her to take the meanest, most out of control dragon I had, fully expecting that it would eat every vampire in the Brotherhood and make the rest of my job easy. There was no way, I thought, the Brother could possibly wrangle this monster.
“ You may have my favorite pet, but I have some conditions that must be met,” I said to her after a very long silence. “This isn’t something I do without great trepidation, knowing how horrid you are.” She waved her hand, as if to dismiss my concerns about her motives. She was always so dismissive of me and it drove me insane. “ No, sister mine, I will not be brushed off,” I growled in an ominous tone only I can pull off. “If you won’t agree to my demands, you shall not be allowed the use of my pet.” As I began to outline my requirements, a small smile played on her face. No one could tell me that the Scribe Virgin wasn’t sadistic. She was in absolute agreement that she borrow the most aggressive dragon, the one who would take the most work to control. She was happy to curse her warrior for 200 years, which I demanded to ensure the beast would have ample time to do its job. The only stipulation she balked at was my presence at the insertion. She didn’t want me there and I couldn’t understand why. “ I can’t be seen with you,” she said, aghast at the thought. “You can’t come to my sanctuary. You can’t be anywhere near me in any place where people might see us.” I put aside the insult. She had long since ceased to hurt my feelings with her obvious disgust at my very existence. “ Sorry, no deal. If I can’t be there to witness my pet, my baby, being implanted in that disgusting brute of yours, then you can’t have him,” I said as I turned away, fully prepared to send her away empty handed. I knew that would get her. One thing my darling sister couldn’t stand was being denied a chance to hurt another soul, even if was one that she had created. She liked to hide in her white world, where everything looked pristine and pure. However, anyone who looked closely at her behaviors, the things she did, the things she required before being willing to grant any favor, they would have seen the cruelty in her acts. “ I will agree to whatever you ask, brother,” she practically spat the word at me. “As you have asked a price for this, you must make sure the monster you give me will be the most difficult trial a warrior could possibly have to endure. If you don’t, I will find a way to make up the difference, and that will be most unpleasant for you. Of that you can be sure. Oh, and I shall have to hide you with a mhis. I wasn’t being facetious when I said I couldn’t be seen with you.” So the deal was struck. Within the blink of an eye, we were in front of the warrior, who had his head bent awaiting his punishment. I noticed the dead owl lying by the tree and I knew this vampire was in for more pain and suffering than he could possibly survive. My sister loved her birds and there was no way she was going to let this pass without extracting her pound of flesh. The Brother was larger than a typical vampire, but he was nowhere near big enough to contain my beast without a great struggle, and getting him into the vampire wasn’t going to be anything short of torturous. He was shaking a bit, perhaps in fear. Or maybe it was remorse, as he did seem to genuinely feel bad for whatever act had ended in the death of the owl. If he was smart, he would have been terrified. Whatever he felt, he kept his head bowed in shame and awaited his punishment with bravery. My sister, in her flowing black robe, was standing in front of the male. She reached down and grabbed him by his long, blond hair, yanking his head back until it looked like it was going to wrench from his neck. Looking into his face, she roared at him, “You have taken one of my most precious possessions.” The male just gaped at her, his eyes wide with surprise at her indignation. Tears were rolling down his face now as he stammered out a weak apology. His whole body was wracked with sobs. He blubbered about how he didn’t mean to do harm, how he hadn’t thought of the repercussions of giving his weapon to someone untrained. The words were coming out of his mouth so fast I had to struggle to understand what he was saying. I guess the male wasn’t stupid after all. He was petrified. From out of her robe, the Scribe Virgin pulled a large dagger. It was bone handled and looked like something with which a human would disembowel large game. Still looking directly into the vampire’s eyes, she took the knife and stabbed him in the throat. It made a sound of a stone dropping into wet cement, a slurping noise that would have caused a mortal to vomit. The male’s eyes did the impossible. They became even wider than they had been, taking up so much of his face that it appeared eyes were all he had. Pulling slowly, she dragged the blade down through his neck, his chest. The sickening sound of his sternum cracking was loud enough to startle the birds still left in the trees in this very twisted sanctuary. The strength she wielded to break through his rib bones one by one was impressive. My sister was watching the line of damage as she created it, her gaze not wavering from her bloody task for a moment. She didn’t stop until she had cut him all the way to his pubic bone. As intestines and entrails spilled out of the gaping hole my sister had gouged in this pathetic creature, she looked as if she was in ecstasy. Her head was tilted to the sky, the look on her face one of rapture. My sister had lost her mind in that moment. I was sure of it. The male looked as if he was screaming, though no sound was coming out. His eyes were wide but not seeing. His face was contorted in pain that most would be unable to live through, draining of color as the blood poured from the wound in his torso. There was so much blood, running in rivers down the hill, into the fountain, turning the water a deep hue of red that was terribly out of place in this sea of white. The vampire’s essence was leaving quickly as my sister was lost in her own private rampage. She actually seemed unaware of the harm she had done. As the warrior seemed to finally grasp the severity of the situation he was in, he resigned himself to the fate that would be conferred upon him. Any fight he may have had inside his large body left, just as the vital fluid was doing. Snapping out of whatever twisted reverie she was lost in, the Scribe Virgin captured my dragon by his barbed tail and set about the onerous task of forcing a very round peg into a very square and much smaller hole. Inch by inch, she pushed and shoved that 12 foot dragon into the opening she had created when she eviscerated the vampire. The sound of bones crunching was almost more than I could bear. Almost. The warrior’s face was a study in tortured agony. Sweat was pouring from his brow. His mouth was agape in a silent wail. His eyes were rolled back in his head, and still my sister continued her almost methodical invasion of the body she had laid open. When the dragon was finally well seated, crammed really, in the small space, she held her hand out, a light emanating from it, and she sealed the wound she had earlier created. She unceremoniously dropped her warrior, using that dangerous hand to clean up the mess she had made. The vampire curled into a ball then very violently splayed his body out, knowing that whatever was inside was too large for his shell to hold. Finally he found his voice and the silent screams became deafening shrieks and had my sister not covered her heinous act with a mhis that not only hid me from sight, but this entire gruesome scene, all of her innocent Chosen would have fled her presence in absolute terror. But the Scribe Virgin was nothing if not smart. She wasn’t going to let anyone see her madness. With another wave of her hand, she wiped the memory of what she had done from her creature’s mind and made sure the dragon was well ensconced inside his body, making them one. It was almost as if the male came awake, he startled and awareness returned to him. “ You will carry with you a curse, for two hundred years, to remind you of what you have done here. No more will you be able to think only of yourself, acting impulsively as only a young child should be wont to do,” she whispered into his face, so close to him it made even me shudder. “And you will be reminded every time you get even slightly out of control, because you will be visited by a beast so savage even those you love won’t be safe.” I left her garden impressed, and a little hopeful that perhaps she and I had come to some sort of understanding. Perhaps we would be able to work together in the future, not always be at odds. She had, after all, just brutally attacked the warrior race she claimed to love so much. Of course that isn’t what happened. Instead of being able to break free of its warrior prison and devour the Brotherhood, my sister enchanted the beast, protecting her vermin, and instead my dragon chose to eat my lessers. In the 99 or so years he’d been inside of that Brother, he hadn’t eaten a single one of the noxious rodents he should have preferred. That certainly should be a hint as to how slimy those freaks are, when even a dragon won’t eat one. My sister, the malicious Scribe Virgin, irritates me to no end. My life's mission has been to eradicate the disgusting species she created and she is seriously screwing that up. Everything she did is in direct opposition to me. Every single thing. And it is beginning to piss me off. She really is a spiteful b****.
If you would like to follow along with the Role Players that @The_Omega_ is part of, please USE GOOGLE to easily follow each character within the group. And trust me, you don't know what your missing! So hurry and follow today!
Find@The_Omega_Online:
Twitter | Facebook
@FritzDoggen_BDB Online: (updates, notes and information on the Twitter Role Playing Group)
Website | Twitter
Order All 8 books in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and Preorder book 9 Online here:
Amazon | Borders | Barnes and Noble | The Book Depository
Reference:
**Role Play
–verb (used with object) 1. to assume the attitudes, actions, and discourse of (another), esp. in a make-believe situation in an effort to understand a differing point of view or social interaction: Management trainees were given a chance to role-play labor negotiators. 2. to experiment with or experience (a situation or viewpoint) by playing a role: trainees role-playing management positions. –verb (used without object) 3. to engage in role-playing.
Thank you so much to @The_Omega_ and all the other characters from the Black Dagger Brotherhood Twitter Role Play group for all the time and effort they have been putting in to help us celebrate not only Halloween and our event, but also our love for all that is the Brotherhood and J.R. Ward. * Check out Lisa's Haunted Halloween post with Sara Bennett Wealer and a giveaway for a signed copy of Rival.
*Reminder: If you are interested in the COMMENT CONTEST, remember to include your email address with your comment for an extra entry! Please read full entry rules here.
As promised, today I'm going to provide a generic Guest Post that you (if you want to spread the word) can simply copy and paste and post on your blog. Not only will it spread the word about donating guest reviews, but it will also give you a day's break from coming up with something clever to post about!:) Haha just kidding (sort of).
Hey everybody! Miss Remmers here from Miss Remmers' Review. [Insert your name here] was so generous to allow me to write up a quick post to spread the word about Guest Reviews. As a future educator, I am on a mission to collect book reviews from book bloggers/enthusiasts. My hope is to provide students with reviews of awesome books that they can't put down and that will leave them asking for another book. In essence, I want to inspire struggling and reluctant readers to read recreationally.
To do this, I need your help. This holiday season I am trying to collect as many guest reviews as possible. Not sure what a guest review is? Last week, Sheila (from One Person's Journey Through a World of Books) donated a review of Viola in REEL Life. This week, Leslie from That Chick That Reads donated a review of Blood Promise. Every Wednesday I highlight a different Guest Review. The purpose of this is for students to have a different person's perspective on books — someone other me. Also, by having other reviewers donate reviews, students are exposed to books that I may not have ever picked up.
Have I successfully peaked your interest yet? Are you thinking of an awesome book to inspire non-readers? Perfect. Please stop by and donate a review. It's extremely simple — simply copy and paste your original review into an email along with links to your blog and the original review. It's as easy as that. My goal is collect twenty reviews by Christmas. If I do this, I'll give away a twenty dollar gift certificate to Barnes and Noble to a guest reviewer. The more reviews you send me the more chances you have of winning. If I get thirty reviews, I'll give away thirty dollars (I'll go all the way up to fifty)!
This doesn't take a lot of your time, a link to your blog will be posted in the review at least twice (along with a link to your original post), and you will forever have a link back to your blog in my right sidebar (see "Guest Reviewers"). And, most importantly, you will be putting books in struggling readers' hands. After all... 'Tis the season. If you're interested, please stop by and learn more about Guest Reviews and how to officially join in on the holiday festivities.
Thank you [insert your name] so much for letting me take up a precious post here at [Insert blog title]. I very much appreciate your continual support.
Easy as pie!:) Am I clever or am I clever! If you'd like a more personalized Guest Post, please ask. I just wrote this up to hopefully spread the word. Thanks everyone — I genuinely appreciate your support.
A few weeks months ago I asked for your opinion: what books would you recommend to my students. I had a fantastic response. If my stats for that post are any indication, this question has been asked many times before and people, especially teachers, are still looking for those great recommendations. Well, after asking my mom (a school librarian) and the librarian at my school, I'm finally making public what we have put together. I'm pretty sure everybody can find something on this list; I know that nonfiction is an area I need to work on as well and as I'm expecting one nonfiction read from my students by the end of the semester I've set the same standard for myself.
If you'd like to look at these lists in a Google Doc format: Recs from Readers and Recs from Teachers
Here are the recommendations from other readers: Title of Book Diary of Anne Frank In the Garden of Beasts Manhunt Farewell to Manzanar Graphic Novels: Maus and Persepolis Half Broke Horses I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed What is the What I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Freakonomics Under the Black Flag Cleopatra: A Life All But My Life Freedom Riders Einstein's Refrigerator Brothers in Arms The Devil In The White City Little Princes 360 Degrees Longitude Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
You Had Me at Woof Decoded Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us Night Eat, Pray, Love I am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee I am Scout: The Biography of Harper Lee The Glass Castle The Children's Blizzard Rocket Boys Stitches: A Memoir
And here are the recommendations compiled by two fantastic school librarians:
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