Winners of 20 Years Later ARCs!

Okay! There were tons of people who joined the Dystopian Domination contests! I was so overwhelmed with the number of views and the number of comments. Thank you for making this event a success!

For the first giveaway, there were two ARCs of 20 Years Later.

There were 266 entries. Wow.

I  checked all the entries. 

Some people didn't leave their email addresses.

But I considered them if their email addresses are in their profile page.

I had fun reading all your answers and a number of comments had me laughing - one of which happened to be a winning comment! What a coincidence!

Of couse, random.org was a dear and helped me in picking the winners.

Here are the two winners:

#47 – TheGirlonFire

And

#256 – The Reading Owl

Congratulations! *throws confetti* The winners have been notified. You have 48 hours to respond. Thanks to everyone who entered. There are still a handful of giveaways, so don’t worry!

Review: Angel Kiss by Laura Jane Cassidy

Book Description via Goodreads:

Paperback, 304 pages

May 5, 2011, Puffin Books (Ireland & UK)

Jacki King is fifteen and adjusting to her new life in a small village. She's missing Dublin but she's making new friends: artistic Colin, feisty Emily - and Nick, gorgeous yet unavailable. But no sooner is Jacki settled than the torturous headaches and nightmares begin - followed by strange visions, voices and signs...Jacki refuses to believe that something paranormal is happening. But then she discovers the unsolved murder that occurred in the village years before ...

Source: Laura Jane Cassidy & Patricia at Puffin Ireland (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

I loved how the mystery side of the novel was balanced with just the right amount of interaction between Jacki and the people around her. She did not lose contact and awareness of the real world amidst the burden of her duty and the onslaught of the severe headaches, visions and dreams. The haunting was not relentless but it came with a steady flow of clues that I found to be creepy. The gaps in between the arrival of these clues were filled with the colorful history and the present of Avarna. Jacki was starting to make friends. Her first friend, Colin, was her key to getting to know the people of Avarna. He was artistic and was pleased by anything related to anime. He proved himself to be a good and dependable friend. He was my favorite character in the novel. He was naturally charming and kindhearted.

Nick, the undeniably handsome but taken guy, caught Jacki’s eyes. Jacki nurtured a crush on him despite his unavailable state. I like that she didn’t give up that easily behaving herself for the sake of Nick’s relationship with Sarah, the prettiest girl in the village. I wanted more between interaction between Nick and Jacki. I felt that there could have been more. She was starting to adjust, to find a place for herself in Avarna when the strange things that were happening to her reached a higher level. Something was happening to her. But Jacki did not know what. The only thing that she knew was that it was not normal – something that she refused to believe.

As the ghost’s calling became more insistent, Jacki had to face the truth: she needed to pay attention to the ghost and help her. With the help of Colin, she tried to gather information. But in a village so small, where people have kept secrets for years, could she manage to get the information she needed to find out who the killer was? I was filled with a sense of familiarity and comfort with the people of Avarna. Cassidy breathed life into them with glimpses into their history. One of the things that I liked was how I could see the past and present of the characters. The decisions they had made, their present and the what-ifs that filled Jacki’s mind made me feel close to them.

Angel Kiss is a creepy mystery that will draw in readers with its charming characters, chilling haunting and flawless writing. I was hooked with Jacki’s life so much, enjoying how she adjusted to the village and how she interacted with people. Then there would be breaks from that, paranormal touches that would make my hair stand on end. I found the flow of the mystery natural. It was the kind that moved in a steady, unhurried pace that would weave around the story, teasing the readers. I recommend this to paranormal readers and mystery readers.

Rating:

Divergent Writing Challenge

For those of you who haven’t read Divergent yet, haven’t picked it up, and haven’t gotten the chance to buy it…this is your chance to win Divergent.

Honest, Brave, Selfless, Peaceful or True, those are the only type of people you can be in the world of DIVERGENT and you can only be ONE! So what happens when a character, like Beatrice Prior, finds themselves embodying more than one of these persona? Who are you when you are not what society expects you to be?

What to Do: Write a short story or poem that explores a character that does not quite fit into the world around them. Like Divergent you can create a dystopian environment where everyone is supposed to act a certain way or you can explore a world much closer to your own, like a high school where someone just doesn't quite fit in.

Two writing winners, selected by author Veronica Roth, will receive a free copy of DIVERGENT as well as three books of their choice from HarperTeen. Two comment winners will be selected at random to win a copy of DIVERGENT as well as three books of their choice from HarperTeen.

How to Enter the Divergent Writing Challenge: Post your writing to inkpop through the standard upload process. Make sure to put the challenge ID, IC#63, in the title. Once your project is uploaded, post the project's URL link in this forum.

Prizes for Four Winners: Two writing winners and two commenters will be also be selected to win a copy of DIVERGENT as well as three additional books of their choice from the HarperTeen catalog. Winners will be announced here on inkpop Forums.

Divergent Writing Challenge Details:

inkpop Challenge Marker: ic#63
Format Selection: Any
Genre: Short Story,Poem, Essay
Launch Date: June 2nd, 2011
Deadline: June 9th, 2011 (12 p.m. EST)

Goodluck to those of you who are joining!

Source: InkPop

Review: Flying Blind by Deborah Cooke

Book Description via Goodreads:

ARC, 320 pages

June 7, 2011, New American Library

The next generation of shape-shifting dragons from the popular author of the Dragonfire novels.

Zoë Sorensson is perfectly normal, except she's been told she's destined for great things. Zoë's the one female dragon shapeshifter of her kind. But Zoë is at the bottom of the class when it comes to being Pyr and her powers are AWOL, so she's sent to a Pyr boot camp. 

Zoë quickly realizes that she has to master her powers yesterday, because the Pyr are in danger and boot camp is a trap. The Mages want to eliminate all shifters and the Pyr are next in line-unless Zoë and her friends can work together and save their own kind.

Source: Kayleigh, NAL (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

Zoe was a really fun character. For the Pyr (dragon shapeshifters), puberty comes with dragon powers. Zoe was a late bloomer. No puberty equals no dragon powers, no Wyvern powers. It was deflating, discouraging and even sad to not be the powerful Wyvern that Zoe was meant to be.

I love dragons! I loved them more because of Cooke’s twist in the mythology. Instead of the usual affinity to fire, the Pyr were connected to the four elements: fire, water, air and earth. Each one of them possessed scales made up of two elements. These scales were their armor. They could be damaged and repaired. Quinn, the Pyr Smith, was in charge of this. Every year, there was a boot camp that would harness the skills of the young Pyrs. When Zoe’s dad gave her permission to go there and join her three best friends, she was ecstatic. But deep inside, she was scared and worried about shifting because the dragon inside her was wild and it was controlling her.

Zoe had a crush on Nick, her almost-brother best friend. But Nick did not have his eyes on her and he was treating her like a little sister. What was worse was that Isabelle, Rafferty’s daughter, would be going to boot camp too. And Nick’s attention was on her. Then Zoe met Jared, the mysterious hot guy who drove a vintage Ducati motorcycle. He was easy to be with. He was the kind of person who could alluring and mischievous. Then there was Adrian, the voice of reason in the group. He was charming – the kind of guy who could make a girl forget about the present. I liked Adrian with Zoe but I loved Jared with her. They seemed like a great, sweet pair.

The boot camp was a trap. Everyone was mostly annoyed and furious. And most of those negative emotions were focused on Zoe. What was supposed to be a fun time turned out to be dangerous. With no adult Pyr around to guide them, could Zoe figure out how to control her dragon and how to save everyone? I never imagined the Mages to be so fierce. Blinded by their greed for power and world domination, they have become savage, mercilessly hunting down and killing all the shapeshifters in the world.

Charged with magic, action, love, lies and doubt, Flying Blind is an exhilarating and gripping novel that readers of paranormal romance will devour. Flying Blind is also full of surprises and has an easy-to-read narrative by Zoe. I highly recommend this to everyone! I can’t wait for the sequel!

Rating: