Friday, 31 July 2015
Month9Books Friday Reveal + Giveaway - Author Spotlight: Charles Curtis
Welcome to this week’s M9B Friday Reveal!
This week, we are spotlighting
Charles Curtis
author of
Strange Country Days
a Middle Grade title from Tantrum Books, coming August 2015!
Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!
Twitter or Facebook?
I use both, but I'm plugged into Twitter every day for eight hours (I swear, it's for my job as a sportswriter! - http://connect.nj.com/staff/CharlesCurtis/posts.html).
I use both, but I'm plugged into Twitter every day for eight hours (I swear, it's for my job as a sportswriter! - http://connect.nj.com/staff/CharlesCurtis/posts.html).
Favorite Superhero?
I was hooked on Wolverine as a kid. Who doesn't love a sarcastic hero with a murky origin tale, claws and all the best one-liners?
Favorite TV show?
Current: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. All-Time: Seinfeld. Guilty Pleasure: Food Network Star
Sweet or Salty?
I will eat something sweet like a peanut butter cup and follow it up with a salty snack. It's a yin/yang thing I started doing as a teenager.
Coke or Pepsi?
Coke and it's not even close.
Any Phobias?
Three words: Big hairy spiders.
Song you can’t get enough of right now?
I just discovered an artist named Jacob Collier who does these incredible, mostly a cappella arrangements of songs and I'm hooked on his take on the jazz standard "Fascinating Rhythm." Amazing! [link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K28H04Y2IdE]
What are you reading right now or what's on your TBR?
I just started "The Maze Runner" and plan on reading Andy Weir's "The Martian" next.
Fall Movie you’re most looking forward to?
I've watched the Star Wars trailers about 80 times each and geek out. Every. Single. Time.
Charles Curtis is a writer and journalist based in New York City. He has reported and written for publications including NJ.com (where he is currently the site’s sports buzz reporter), The Daily, ESPN.com, ESPN the Magazine, Bleacher Report, TV Guide and Entertainment Weekly. Charles has covered the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, golf, tennis and NASCAR. He has also written about television, film and pop culture.
In addition, Curtis has also written, produced and was featured in videos for ESPN.com and The Daily. He has made radio appearances on stations including 92.9 The Ticket in Bangor, Maine, WLIE 540 AM in Long Island and on morning shows across Canada via the CBC.
He can be reached on Twitter: @charlescurtis82.
Connect with the Author:
Alexander Graham Ptuiac, the son of an inventor, wants to play for the school’s football team. During tryouts, and under the watchful eye of the team’s coach, he suddenly manifests mysterious superhuman powers. Alexander makes the team, but not before the some ill-intended adults take notice, putting his life in danger.
Alex struggles to suppress and control his strange new abilities, worried about exposing his secret and being kicked off the football team. Then he befriends Dex, a diminutive classmate who can somehow jump as high as ten feet in the air. Seems Alex isn’t the only one at school with a secret.
As the school year unfolds, Alex will find himself the target of bullies, holding hands with his first crush and discovering the shocking truth about himself and his parents.
Thursday, 30 July 2015
July Finds
How Jurassic World Should Have Ended
I haven't seen Jurassic World (even though Chris Pratt is in it *swoons*) but this video made me laugh.
Foxes Covered Photograph by Ed Sheeran
I'm a huge Foxes fan so I may be biased but I love her cover of Photograph by Ed Sheeran.
The Good Dinosaur Trailer
Disney have released a trailer for The Good Dinosaur.
The premise for the film is 'what if the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs didn't hit Earth?'.
The trailer doesn't reveal much so I'm not sure if it's going to be any good or not.
Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer
Angry Katniss alert!
I haven't decided if I'm going to see Mockingjay Part 2 or not (I've read the book and know that I'm going to be an emotional wreck) but there's no denying that Jennifer Lawrence is a damn fine actress.
New Funko Pops!
Inside Out Funko Pops!
I saw the film last week and liked it.
The Funko Pops are so cute!
Once Upon a Time Funko Pops! :D
I'm definitely buying a Hook one and maybe a Snow one because I like the flashbacks where she's wearing that outfit.
Tom Cruise Lip Sync Battle!
Tom Cruise. Lip Sync Battle.
Need I say more?
Month9Books Two for Thursday Book Blitz + Giveaway – Boneseeker by Brynn Chapman and Endless by Amanda Gray
Welcome to this week’s Two for Thursday Book Blitz #T4T
presented by Month9books/Tantrum Books!
presented by Month9books/Tantrum Books!
Today, we will be showcasing two titles that may tickle your fancy,
and we’ll share what readers have to say about these titles!
and we’ll share what readers have to say about these titles!
You just might find your next read!
This week, #T4T presents to you:
Boneseeker by Brynn Chapman and
Endless by Amanda Gray
Endless by Amanda Gray
Be sure to enter the giveaway found at the end of the post!
Arabella Holmes was born different and raised different. After it became apparent she wouldn’t fit the role of a proper 1900′s lady, her father, Sherlock, called in some lingering favors, and landed her a position at the Mutter Museum. The museum was Arabella’s dream; she was to become a purveyor of abnormal science. What her father called a BoneSeeker.
Henry Watson arrives at the Mutter Museum with a double assignment–to become a finder of abnormal antiquities and to watch over and keep Arabella Holmes. An easy task, if he could only get her to speak to him instead of throwing knives in his general direction.
But this is no time for child’s play. The two teens are assigned to a most secret exploration, when the hand of a Nephilim is unearthed in upstate New York. Soon, Arabella and Henry are caught in a fight for their lives as scientific debate swirls around them. Are the bones from a Neanderthal … or are they living proof of fallen angels, who supposedly mated with humans according to ancient scrolls?
Sent to recover the skeleton, they discover they are the second team to have been deployed and the entire first team is dead. And now they must trust their instincts and rely on one another in order to survive and uncover the truth.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Chapters | TBD
IndieBound | iBooks | Google Play | BAM
WHAT READER’S ARE SAYING:
“For the love of all things Sherlock! I loved this book to bits. I felt like I was seeing old friends.” – Kristie, Lost in Ever After
“Boneseeker is one that fans of historical mysteries and a little bit romance along the way will enjoy.” – Jenea, Reviewer
a fab idea to take Holmes and Watson to the next generation and to have them on a kind of steampunk/ science adventure” – Nicky Peacock, Author
Born and raised in western Pennsylvania, Brynn Chapman is the daughter of two teachers. Her writing reflects her passions: science, history and love—not necessarily in that order. In real life, the geek gene runs strong in her family, as does the Asperger’s syndrome. Her writing reflects her experience as a pediatric therapist and her interactions with society’s downtrodden. In fiction, she’s a strong believer in underdogs and happily-ever-afters. She also writes non-fiction and lectures on the subjects of autism and sensory integration and is a medical contributor to online journal The Age of Autism.
Author Links:
IN A RACE AGAINST TIME, HOW DO YOU KEEP THOSE YOU LOVE SAFE?
Jenny Kramer knows she isn’t normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them. When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumbles on an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought.
Like a past life.
Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But they weren’t alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has traveled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back. While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock -- and the Order -- the trio discovers a link that joins them in life -- and beyond death.
Google Play | BAM | iBooks
WHAT READER’S ARE SAYING:
“I thought this book was pretty amazing – the characters, the setting and the adventure all came together to create this romantic yet ultimately dangerous story with
a perfect time travel twist!” – Hannah – Lemonade Library
a perfect time travel twist!” – Hannah – Lemonade Library
“I started reading this not knowing completely what the story was about but there's an amazing love story as well as a bit of history thrown into the mix along with some time travel and a soul mate and reincarnation!” – Anna – Bound in Ink Books
“This book is a very interesting twist on time travel, history and romance, something I would love to see adapted on the big screen in the future.” – Lyn - Reading Tsinoy
Amanda Gray believes in magic and fantasy and possibilities. She is a team of two bestselling authors who live only miles apart but have never met in person. They talk on the phone and are the best of friends and between them have written more than a dozen novels and novellas and have had their work appear on television.
Complete the Rafflecopter for your chance to win!
Wednesday, 29 July 2015
Review - Armada by Ernest Cline
Title: Armada
Author: Ernest Cline
Pages: 384
Publisher: Cornerstone Digital
Release date: 16th July 2015
Blurb from Goodreads:
Then he glances out his classroom window and spots the flying saucer.
At first, Zack thinks he’s going crazy.
A minute later, he’s sure of it. Because the UFO he’s staring at is straight out of the videogame he plays every night, a hugely popular online flight simulator called Armada—in which gamers just happen to be protecting the earth from alien invaders.
But what Zack’s seeing is all too real. And his skills—as well as those of millions of gamers across the world—are going to be needed to save the earth from what’s about to befall it.
Yet even as he and his new comrades scramble to prepare for the alien onslaught, Zack can’t help thinking of all the science-fiction books, TV shows, and movies he grew up reading and watching, and wonder: Doesn’t something about this scenario seem a little too… familiar?
My Review:
*I
received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to Random
House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley*
3.5/5
stars
Zack
Lightman is daydreaming in Maths class and looks out the window when he sees a
spaceship from his favourite video game Armada. He assumes he's going crazy.
The next
day a ship appears at Zack's school. The EDA, the organisation that protects
the Earth in Armada, needs Zack's help (he's ranked number six in Armada)
because it turns out that aliens really do exist and they're headed for Earth.
Will
humanity be able to survive?
Does the
strange death of Zack's father have anything to do with the aliens?
Why do
events seem so familiar?
As a
sci-fi fan I was really looking forward to reading Armada and while I did enjoy
it, I was slightly disappointed.
Zack was
a likeable, relatable protagonist and his reactions were believable. I liked
most of the other characters, especially Lex.
I loved
all the references, particularly the Firefly ones.
The plot
was good but I did see some things coming. I did want to keep reading but I
wasn't gripped by the writing which was easy to follow.
Overall
this was an enjoyable read.
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