Dark Triumph Blog Tour: Author Interview + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on day two of the Dark Triumph Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Grave Mercy was a big time favorite of mine from 2012 so I was stoked and so honored to be having a spot on this awesome tour!

For today's stop, I've got the amazing Robin LaFevers here to answer some questions as well as two epic giveaways to share with all you ravenous bookworms so without further ado, let's get to all the fun, eh?

In My Mailbox (15) & Momo's Playlist (4): One Direction

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren with some inspiration from Alea at Pop Culture Junkie where we post about books we have received during the week via mailbox, local library, or store bought, etc.

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Thanks to Lori Strongin, Harpreet, Erica, and Maggie!

• Ride the Moon by M. L. D. Curelas (Goodreads | Amazon)

• ARC: Wings of the Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton (Goodreads | Amazon)

• Isle of Night by Veronica Wolff (Goodreads | Amazon)

• ARC: The Opposite of Hallelujah by Anna Jarzab (Goodreads | Amazon)

• Two copies of Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (Goodreads | Amazon)

• Two Black City bookmarks by and from Elizabeth Richards (Goodreads | Amazon)

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I was so freakin' excited to see my ARC copy of Wings of the Wicked! I sent this baby out to various bloggers to read during October and it finally made its way back home! This copy is very special to me because....

all those awesome bloggers wrote mini reviews of Wings on the inside of the book and...yeah, it's a total collector's item now, haha! And CAM even signed it too, woot!

That's all the books for me this week! What did all you awesome bookworms receive in your mailboxes!? And how was Easter Sunday for all of yoooou?! :)

Wait, I couldn't just end my IMM there because there's one teeny tiny piece of squeal-ish, fangirling-ish stuff I must share with all of you and that is...

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ONE DIRECTION

If you guys wanna leave...after seeing what was in my mailbox, feel free to do so because this part of the post might get long and...my word vomit might choose to make its appearance.

For quite some time now, I've been seeing tweets here and there on my timeline about 1D and at first, I was clueless as to who or what 1D was so sometime last week, during my Spring Break, out of boredom, I decided to youtube them and check 'em out.

The very first song I listened to was One Thing, the acoustic version. Duuuuuuuuuuuuudes, it was insta-love, nooooo joke! I watched this video ↓

Right after the chorus kicked in, I was hooked so hard! Hours later, I was still stuck on youtube, scouring for more videos. And then days later, I was still doing the same thing. They're so cute and adorable and sexy and ahem, helloooooo - ACCENTS! Yes, pleeeease!
I'm so bummed that I found out about them like two months late because their whole freakin' tour is completely sold out! I checked their stops and they're going to be in Cali for like....five days and I could have totally made one of the stops. Waah, that for seriously sucks butt! BUT, I am SO on it when their next tour rolls around...which I'm hoping won't be too long after this tour ends!
On to more recent news, haha as if this wasn't recent enough. Anyway, last night was one of the best nights for us Directioners! 1D was on iCarly and Saturday Night Live (which I never watched until last night - all thanks to 1D)! I missed iCarly but SNL was freakin' epic! 1D came on and performed What Makes You Beautiful and One Thing and omgomgomg, you guys should have seen me! I was a mess...on the inside. If I freaked out, inside out, I probably would have ended up in the psych ward. ;)
GUUUYS, they're amazing! Well...if you're into that kind of stuff...and music. But if you're still here, reading my gush fest, then for me, at least, please check out their music! But first, here are some more pictures of all the guys and their beautiful-ness!







Told ya, they're pretty freakin' sexxxxxy! Deep sigh.... Now onto the three music videos that you guys should definitely check out!

WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL

ONE THING

GOTTA BE YOU
Their songs are super catchy and before you know it, you'll be singing along...whether you want to or not! They also have a few ballads that are just the sweetest but today is a beautiful and uplifting sort of day, so check those songs out and let me know what you guys think!

Alrighty, this post started out as an IMM then it sorta turned into a Momo's Playlist...so...I'm changing the title of this post. Lol, I promise it originally was In My Mailbox (15). Aah, okay let me know what has been happenin' with all of you lovelies! And if you guys have already heard of One Direction (cause I feel like I'm the last person on this milky way to have heard of them) just act like you know....this was your very first time and get excited with me! ;)

HAPPY EASTER SUNDAY!

Book Signing: Robin LaFevers and Barry Lyga

Last night I had the pleasure of attending another one of Not Your Mother's Book Club's amazing book signing event hosted at Books Inc. Burlingame. Robin LaFevers and Barry Lyga were our two very special guests where they came and discussed with us all the bloody awesomeness that goes on in their books.

As some of you guys know, I just finished Grave Mercy two days ago (read my review here) and I immediately fell in love with it! Before I even read the book, I was excited about it so when I heard that Robin was coming to my area, I had to, without a doubt, get myself there because...I just couldn't miss it!

Now onto the pictures!

Barry and Robin - intro!

Q&A session!

Me and Robin - total fangirl moment!

Me and Anna from Literary Explorations!

Me and Tara from Tater's Tall Tails!
And her shirt says: Keep calm and kill zombies!
TOTAL WIN - I need that shirt!

And because Shellie from Creative Reads was so super kind enough to send me her ARC copy of Grave Mercy, I got her:

a signed copy of Grave Mercy! :)

Earlier in the week, my niece had asked me what kind of books we (her mom and I) like to read. My sil and I looked at each other, like

After that exchange happened, her mom said, "You know, fiction!" My niece said, "No, like specific genres." Then I said, "Like...paranormal romance, urban fantasy, dystopians...you know!" After her mom and I answered her, we both asked her why. She responded with, "Because...I want to read a book that has to do with castles and prince and princesses..." Right away, I was like, "Aah, then you'll loooooove the book I'm reading right now! It's called Grave Mercy and it's got all that!" It was so weird and such a coincident that when I went to the signing, I had to get her a signed copy:



I can't wait for her and her mom to read it! And now, onto my pile of awesome:



It was such a fun signing that I wouldn't have been able to attend if it were not for my awesomest big sister for taking me! Seriously, I was and am so happy that I got to meet Robin! She made a quick fangirl out of me!

So, have you picked up your copy of Grave Mercy and I Hunt Killers yet?! If not, call Books Inc. Burlingame because I'm sure they'll have signed copies in store for all of you!

Book Review: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

Title: Grave Mercy

Author: Robin LaFevers

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Release Date: April 3rd, 2012

Find Robin LaFevers Online: Twitter | Facebook | Website | Blog

Why be the sheep, when you can be the wolf?

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae's most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

My $0.02

There’s something about the medieval time period that completely captivates me—the swords, the battles, the castles and palaces, the knights in shining armor, the princesses, the corrupt officials, the love affairs, the betrayals—all of it just makes for one crazy endeavor that you won’t be able to shake…for a good while!  When I ran across Grave Mercy, I knew immediately that I had to—without a doubt—get my fingers on a copy that instant!  Right away I knew that it was just my cup of tea; something that I would genuinely enjoy, something that would keep me coming back for more.  And Grave Mercy did not disappoint me at all, not one bit!  I am so crazy in love with this book; it is definitely going on my Favorites Shelf!

How do you make a Grave Mercy?  Just add five cups of betrayal, three teaspoons of blood and gore, and two sprinkles of sweet romance and voila!  Grave Mercy was such an epic and heroic read!  You have your fearless and dauntless heroine, the valiant and oh-so-very noble knight and a whole lot of mischief and plotting going on!

Grave Mercy wasn’t necessarily slow for me because something was always going on that my attention was glued to the pages of the book!  It was paced just right and everything was a gradual build until the end, which I appreciated greatly.  That gradual build might be slow for some but I felt like it made the story that much better because you get to see how everything eventually came together and why and how certain events occurred.  This steady flow of the book also played a huge part in Ismae and Gavriel’s relationship.  Because she is a handmaiden of Death, all she knows is how to kill and nothing else.  But the more time that she spends in Gavriel’s presence, the more he begins to grow on her and she finds herself questioning what the little flutters in her stomach mean, the tingles in her fingertips, and the slight blush on her cheeks.  I love that she was so uncertain of her feelings and that she ran through every possible explanation as to why she was feeling the way she was.

Also, her time at court and with Gavriel makes her begin to question the convent and their credibility.  She doesn’t know if what Gavriel tells her is the truth or if he’s just trying to lead her deeper into his deception yet, all the events going on at court doesn’t really match up with the convent’s orders either.  Either way, I was on the edge of my seat, constantly wondering who was behind everything and most importantly, why.  There is so much to the story: all kinds of acts of betrayal, the crazy world of court politics, and the uncertainty of it all made me squirm and squee all over!  Grave Mercy also contains a great cast of supporting characters.  At first, I couldn’t really get them straight because I suck at pronouncing names.  For example, whenever I ran across the name D’Albret, I would just murmur Dealbret and continue on with my reading, so that kind of hindered my understanding of the characters and who was who, but the deeper you get into the story, they all become very clear.  Some of my favorites besides Ismae and Gavriel, of course, are the Duchess, Beast, de Lornay, Isabeau and oddly, Madame Hivern and Louyse.  They grew on me.  A lot.  I didn’t expect some of them to make the list…but well, there they are.

I think Gavriel Duval most certainly gets his own paragraph!  There is so much to this guy.  When you’re first introduced to him, he seems very hard and guarded, which makes sense after you find out who he is.  But there are moments, little moments, where you see just a glimpse of him and his extremely genuine concern for those he loves.  He’s so like…I don’t know, just the perfect knight in shining armor—one that I would very much like to marry.  Right now.  He’s chivalrous, honorable, kindhearted and it might seem like he’s not because of all the secrecy happening at court, but he really is.  And ahem, how hott (yes, he definitely requires the double T) is the name Gavriel. Duval?!  It just sounds so…knightly!  Sigh, anyway I’m madly in love with this dude; I want him.  That is all.

I would absolutely recommend this book to fans of King Arthur, Robin Hood, and/or Game of Thrones!  It was truly an epic and adventurous read that I just couldn't get enough of!  It had everything I wanted and a whole lot more!  It was like LaFevers took a little bit from each of those listed above (some of my favorite movies) and created this masterpiece that I am for seriously crazy about!  Grave Mercy definitely has a little bit of everything:  suspense, mystery, blood and gore, history, horses, swords, and of course, the love story.  If you’re into that stuff, Grave Mercy would positively be the book for you!

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Evanescence - Taking Over Me

Links to purchase Grave Mercy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository

Teaser Tuesday (17): Grave Mercy

This meme is brought to you weekly by MizB over at Should Be Reading!

Anyone can play along, just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title and the author, too, so other TT participants can add the book to their TBR List if they like your teaser!

This past weekend, I started reading Grave Mercy and....omg, it's freakin' amazeballs! Like way awesome! I've mentioned it before and I will again, I absolutely love stories that take place during the time period of knights in shining armor, prince and princesses, wizards and sorcerers, bows and arrows, swords, and horses, and...basically medieval times and this book scored big time for me! It's so epic I can't even put into words how much I love it and I'm barely a hundred pages in - barely! So, based off that, I know that once I finish it, I will feel as if I've lost a friend. Seriously. <333

With that said, I couldn't just do one teaser because as I was reading, there were so many lines/paragraphs that stood out to me and I just wanted so badly to share them with all of you, lol! So, without further adieu *pause* (I had to google which way was the correct way to word that phrase and....read this post: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/ado-versus-adieu.aspx || BWAHA, I feel so dumb now!) Now, without further ado! LOL, I'm cracking up at myself SO bad!

My 1st Teaser

Dizzy at the speed with which my world has been turned upside down, I stall, trying to think of one last argument I could make. I have joined the convent to withdraw from the world of men, not to be thrust upon the mercy of one.

- ARC → Page 87, Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

My 2nd Teaser

As he rows, his chest strains against the fine velvet of his doublet. The muscles in his arms bunch, then stretch, with every pull on the oar, and I cannot help but think that even with all the training the convent has given me, he could easily best me in a hand-to-hand fight.

Not liking the direction of those thoughts, I cast my gaze out to sea, certain I have been consigned to a special section of hell.

- ARC → Page 98, Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

My 3rd Teaser

I begin to dismount and immediately Duval is at my side, helping me. He reaches up and puts his hands on my waist. I bite back a gasp of surprise as the warmth from his hands seeps through his gloves and my gown to my skin, driving away some small portion of the chill Death has brought. He lifts me from the saddle and as soon as my feet touch the ground, I pull away from him. I am all business, as if he has not just touched me more intimately than I have ever been touched in my life, and I head toward the grave.

- ARC → Page 104, Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers

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More, more, more, please?!

I absolutely cannot wait to get school outta the way so that I can read more into this baby! It's seriously amazing! And the author's going to be about an hour or two away from me next Wednesday! Aah, I'm dying to go - SO bad! At this moment, I'm desperate, willing to do anything to attend and...I think, I'll be there. Not for sure, just yet, but maybe.

Anyway, back to the book! GUUYS, how sexy is the name Gavriel Duval?! That name definitely tops the sexy names list! I could just walk around saying Gavvvv.riiiiiiiii.elllll over and over again and I'll be super giddy as efff! I've barely been introduced to him for 3-5 chapters but already, I lurrrve him; totally my knight in shining armor. <333

So, what do you guys think?! Which teaser teased you guys the most?! ;) And if you guys have a TT, link me below and I'll check it out when I get home from school, lololol - school, gets in the way of everything!

Pdots → Did you guys notice that in the 1st and 3rd teaser, they both contain a word from the title of the book?! Omg, bet you guys didn't catch that! GRAVE. MERCY. Omgomgomgomgomgomg!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

In My Mailbox (14)

IMM is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren with some inspiration from Alea at Pop Culture Junkie where we post about books we have received during the week via mailbox, local library, or store bought, etc.

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• Angelfire/Wings of the Wicked swag

• A Touch Morbid bookmarks

• A Grave Mercy bookmark

• Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (Goodreads | Amazon)

• A Pure bookmark

• An Angelina's Secret bookmark

• Elemental by Emily White (Goodreads | Amazon)

• An Elemental tattoo

• A Masters of the Veil bookmark

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Ha, I have a story to tell you guys about the books I got this week but first, to the swag!

A ginormous thank you to the fabulous Courtney Allison Moulton for sending me that huge load of amazing swag! If you guys don't know it by now, I'm like...the ultimate fan of the Angelfire series so when I got my sister-in-law to read Angelfire, she kept asking me how Will looked like, how Ellie looked like, etc. and when I went to look for my Angelfire bookmarks to give her a set, I was down to only a few...left for myself. And then...those awesome bookmarks showed up at my doorstep...well, my mailbox - same thing! I loooove them so much! <333

I didn't receive the two books until earlier today. I knew that the mail person came around 12-3 in the afternoon but I...just didn't go outside to check, lololol! I don't know...today has been such a weird day for me. Yesterday, when I got home from school, I knocked the eff out until 8pm, woke up for thirty minutes, then I crashed until 8am, this morning. I couldn't sleep anymore so I got up and watched Robin Hood; I told myself that after I finished the movie, I'll start on my homework. Gag - homework. That was such a slow and arduous process, nearly killed me. In between answering homework problems, I was tweeting and then a friend of mine asked if I had received Grave Mercy; that triggered me to go outside and check the mailbox. When I got to the mailbox, there were two awesome packages waiting in there for me! My reaction:

I totally should have checked sooner but I wasn't really expecting anything...well, I was expecting Grave Mercy but I didn't think it was going to show up until early next week. Anyway, I'm super duper excited to start that one; actually, I'm going to start it as soon as I finish up this post and this interview I have to do!

An enormous thank you to Shellie from Creative Reads for sending me her ARC copy of Grave Mercy! She knew that I have been wanting to read this one since the beginning of time and I seriously cannot thank her enough! She absolutely rocks the hardest! <333

Another big thank you to the amazing crew over at Spencer Hill Press for sending me an ARC of Elemental! I cannot wait to dive into this one! It's definitely up at the top of the pile! Also, the swag - eeep! When I saw the Pure bookmark in there, I realized that it was my very first one...which was sorta weird! I mean, I would have bugged the heck out of JenniferLA for sending me some Pure swag...but I...hmm, it never occurred to me! Anywho, I absolutely luuuurve it!

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So, what was in all of your guys' mailbox this week?! Anything superbly awesome?! Leave yo links and I'll be by! Happy reading!

And dudes, Games of Thrones is almost back! WOOT WOOT!