Recap & Review: Divergent screening

Last night, a friend of mine surprised me with a pass to the Dallas Divergent screening, which is pretty much the best birthday present ever! I took the fastest shower of my life (seriously, we're talking 3 minutes or less here, which is super crazy considering I'm a girl and I have super long hair) and then drove like a maniac across town to get to the theater on time. Surprisingly, parking wasn't an issue, but the theater was mobbed! Red carpets, screaming fans, the works!

Even though I got there on time, fortune smiled down on me, and The Talent was actually running late (because they were stuck in traffic too!). Who was the talent? Well, that would be Jai Courtney and Miles Teller aka Eric and Peter.

 

We waited around for a little while, grabbed some snacks, chatted, and then, when the joyous screams of excited fangirls reached maximum ear-splitting levels, we knew the boys had arrived. They walked up and down the carpet for at least 20 minutes (probably more) taking pictures and signing posters and books for as many fans as possible. My parents blessed me with good height and more good fortune blessed me with a great vantage point where I watched the guys give interviews. I took a billion pictures on my camera and on my friends' phones. A lot of my pictures came out blurry, but I don't have the phone ones yet. Still, I think you can enjoy these:

 Miles is a very smiley guy and super adorable!

Jai looked crazy-freaking-good in his suit!

 And DANG, when he unleashed his smile, choirs sang,
baby angels cooed, and unicorns poop rainbows & glitter.

Miles went back to the beginning of the carpet, and by then, the crowd had thinned out. I was within a foot or two and came very close to getting a picture with him, but alas, it wasn't to be. That leather jacket, just fyi, I wants it.

After that, we milled around for a small enternity, waiting for the guys to leave again, and FINALLY it was time to see the movie BUT FIRST, they made us all give up our phones. No, I'm not joking. Pro: Nobody was texting during the movie! Con: WE HAD TO GIVE UP OUR PHONES. We each got a paper bag and one of those raffle tickets. The corresponding ticket was stapled to the bags, and security took possession of them. Then our bags were all searched to make sure we weren't sneaking any recording devices in. Confession: I totally had my camera in my purse, and thankfully, it wasn't found. Look, giving up my crappy 3-year-old-and-cracked phone is one thing. Giving up my $300 camera is something else entirely. But as I'm not a douche with a jail wish, of course it stayed in my purse the entire film.

I am going to do a short review of the movie so if you don't want to know what happens, you don't have to read it. However, I did pick up some movie swag that I'll be giving away under the cut as well. Also some pictures of the cool costume display at the theater. Oh, and if you want to know, I give it 4 stars out of 5.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Inventor's Secret

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases.

The Inventor's Secret (Inventor's Secret #1)

by Andrea Cremer

Coming April 22, 2014

Philomel

 

Summary:

New from Andrea Cremer, the New York Times bestselling author of the Nightshade novels, comes an action-packed alternate-history steampunk adventure.

In this world, sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees have scraped out an existence on the edge of Britain’s industrial empire. Though they live by the skin of their teeth, they have their health (at least when they can find enough food and avoid the Imperial Labor Gatherers) and each other. When a new exile with no memory of his escape  or even his own name seeks shelter in their camp he brings new dangers with him and secrets about the terrible future that awaits all those who have struggled has to live free of the bonds of the empire’s Machineworks.

The Inventor’s Secret is the first book of a YA steampunk series set in an alternate nineteenth-century North America where the Revolutionary War never took place and the British Empire has expanded into a global juggernaut propelled by marvelous and horrible machinery. Perfect for fans of Libba Bray's The Diviners, Cassandra Clare's Clockwork Angel, ScottWesterfeld's Leviathan and Phillip Reeve's Mortal Instruments.

Why I want it:

Steampunk. That is all. No, seriously. Did you just compare this book, this new series, to ALL my favorite steampunk series? *grabby hands* If my stupid ex-boyfriend from years ago did anything for me, it was that he taught me to understand, appreciate, and even come to love steampunk, which really is one of the coolest concepts ever. I find it fascinating. I haven't read any of Andrea's other novels so I can't say I want it for her name, but this book makes me want to read her books.

Why I think you should want it:

STEAMPUNK. If you don't know what steampunk is, go do a little research. It's SO. COOL. It's a little bit Victorian, a little bit history-buff, a little screw-the-rules-I-do-what-I-want, a little retro-tech. Steampunk has led to some truly beautiful works of art since its conception. Fashion (not just cosply, but that stuff is amazing too!), novels, movies and tv... Right now, while reading this, I just had to go check out my favorite steampunk clothier, Clockwork Couture. Go check them out, and then try to tell me that doesn't make you want to be an airship captain or the like! I want to buy every single corset in that shop. Gah. Sadly, this alt history isn't something we can experience ourselves, but that's why it's so amazing that the genre is getting such a lovely push in ya right now!

Top Ten Tuesday #37: Popular Authors I've Never Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme created by The Broke and The Bookish. Each week the girls at B&B think up a fun theme, and participating bloggers post their favorite 10 books in that category. This week's theme is

TopTen Popular Authors I've Never Read

Usually, I'm all over the big authors and big books before they're big, but yes, even I miss out on some big names and titles. I admit to only recently jumping on the Jennifer L. Armentrout train, and I'm so glad I finally listened to all those recommendations to finally pick up her books. Now, here's a list of some brand name authors whose books I haven't yet read. Who should I read first?

Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia

Rae Carson 

Patrick Ness

Holly Black

Melissa de la Cruz

Pittacus Lore

Cora Carmack

Jamie McGuire

Carrie Ryan

Sarah J. Maas

Who's on your list today? If it's Richelle Mead, Ally Carter or Jennifer Echols, this is my recommendation that you read their books ASAP! Share those TTT links & please tell me who of this list I need to push to the top of my TBR!

Faking Normal Launch

This is the first post of my Event Recap Month, and I thought I'd start it off with one of my most recent events: Courtney C. Stevens's Faking Normal launch! I didn't know orginally that Courtney lived in Nashville, which is where I lived during my college years. I had planned to be in Tennessee for the Dark Days tour, but when Courtney invited me to the Faking Normal launch, which was scheduled a mere five days later, I knew I had to add it to my trip! (By the way, I did actually meet Courtney for the first time at the Dark Days tour, and that recap is coming soon!)

So on Tuesday, February 25th, I rolled up to Parnassus Books plenty early to get my books and (to be honest) charge my phone for my drive to Memphis directly after the party. Parnassus opened just before I left Nashville so I never had the opportunity to attend events there when I lived in Tennessee. Let me tell you, it's a really, REALLY cool store. Those star lights are the coolest thing ever, and on the other side of the bookshelf on the right is this super awesome book tunnel that is designed to look like Nashville's Parthenon. (If you're curious to see other Parnassus pics [not of the party, just the store], there are some really good ones here.)

Courtney kicked things off with a little speech, and she had some truly amazing words to share with all of us attending the launch. My favorite quotes: "On the other side of pain...is hope." "There is always the possibility of things getting better, and it depends on the people we surround ourselves with. My life is infinitely better because you are all on it." "Writing is a team sport, and my team is here!"

 

 Finally, she invited anyone with dreams to become published to look around the store and imagine themselves on the shelves and to make it happen. So, so inspiring!! Everybody was so happy to be there, and a lot of people had these awesome Faking Normal shirts on, even Victoria Schwab!

 The place was PACKED. It seemed like all of Nashville turned out for Courtney's awesome party!

 There was some amazing & uplifting background music going on while everyone was chatting and snacking and getting their books signed.

 Speaking of snacking, Courtney approved the concession stand herself! Yum!

 While waiting to get my books signed, I ran into some familiar faces!

 I met Myra back during the YA Advanture tour!

It was a big day for her too because she had two

shortstories published that day in the Fifty First 

Times and Grim anthologies!

And I met Ruta Sepetys at TLA last year & I have

an upcoming recap of the panel she was on with John

Corey Whaley, Jennifer Echols & Sherri L. Smith.

I also had the pleasure of meeting Jessamyn Gray (@jessamyngray) and Angela Frederick (@angelina41), two awesome Nashville librarians and Brad of Book YA Review. I was like, "Oh, another blogger! I'll have to follow you!" and then I realized the two of us already follow each other. *facepalm* Loved meeting you guys!!

Finally, it was time to hang out with Courtney for a few minutes before I hit the road for the next-to-last leg of my awesome bookish road trip.  Courtney happily signed my copy of Faking Normal as well as another for this giveaway AND gave me some really cool Faking Normal swag to pass on as well!

Giveaway!

Two winners: First place (US & Canada) wins a signed book and some swag. Second place (US only) is a Faking Normal swag pack. Ends 12 AM March 11. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PS If you don't want to chance the Rafflecopter, you CAN order a signed copy of Faking Normal directly from Parnassus. You can do that here. They have quite the stock of signed books to chose from AND they have a special club called their Young Adult First Editions Club which gets you six signed ya books every year.

Big News Part 2: Recap Month!

Lately, I've been talking about "big news" I've been keeping secret for the blog, and yesterday, I got to share the first part of it, my Find Me Readalong! Although due to an unfortunate blog scheduling error (meaning my poor overworked brain made a booboo) that caused this post to be published Friday night and allowing some of you to see this early, today I'm officially spilling my second piece of news: I'm declaring March to be Event Recap Month! March marks my birthday, which fell on a Tuesday last year. It gave me an excuse to give away some new releases that shared the special day with me. This year, I'm just going to celebrate all month long giving out a bunch of signed books instead. Any complaints? Didn't think so.

You guys know I love attending various bookish events in my community (or even events that are actually kind of far away), and I also love to recap those events. Well, last fall, I started to fall behind in all my recap posts. I was busy with work or it just never seemed to be a good time to post or I had a bunch of giveaways running or whatever. Well, in the past few weeks, I've been going to a LOT of signings and launches, and it's left me with a surplus of recap posts and a surplus of books. TLA is coming up in one month, and I really need to get some books cleared off my shelves for the new ones that will hopefully come in during the conference. More than than, I want to share all the stories and q&a sessions with everyone who hasn't been able to attend all the events I have.

So get ready, readers. Expect some awesome recaps (and corresponding giveaways) reeeeeally soon!

Love, 

Mary

Find Me Readalong

I've been giving some hints on Twitter lately talking about some big news, and I can finally share some! I'm so excited to announce my first-ever readalong here at Mary Had a Little Book Blog! From March 16-22, I'll be hosting the official readalong for Romily Bernard's Find Me, the first book in the Find Me series.

This will actually be my first time reading Find Me so feel free to jump in if you haven't read it yet either, but please also join for a reread if you loved it and you want to freshen up on Wick's story before book 2, Remember Me, releases. We're still hammering out a few behind-the-scenes details, but I can tell you there will be at least one giveaway with some pretty cool prizes and there will be a Twitter party at 8 pm cst on Wednesday, March 19. You definitely don't want to miss out! There's a sign up link at the bottom of this post; you can use either a blog or Twitter account. We'll be using hashtag #ReadFindMe for this event, and feel free to tag me (@knoxdiver) on Twitter or hit me up if you've got any questions.

Find Me

Find Me #1.1 
by Romily Bernard

September 24, 2013

Harper Teen

 

Summary:

“Find Me.”

These are the words written on Tessa Waye’s diary. The diary that ends up with Wick Tate. But Tessa’s just been found . . . dead.

Wick has the right computer-hacking skills for the job, but little interest in this perverse game of hide-and-seek. Until her sister Lily is the next target.

Then Griff, trailer-park boy next door and fellow hacker, shows up, intent on helping Wick. Is a happy ending possible with the threat of Wick’s deadbeat dad returning, the detective hunting him sniffing around Wick instead, and a killer taunting her at every step?

Foster child. Daughter of a felon. Loner hacker girl. Wick has a bad attitude and sarcasm to spare.

But she’s going to find this killer no matter what.

Because it just got personal.

Book Buy Links:

   

Weekly wrap-up: February 23 - March 1

I managed to get a shocking amount of reading done considering I was on a road trip for the first half of the week. Not too shabby, eh? How has your week been?

Completed:

On the Fence - Kasie West: 4.5 stars. Soooo cute! I didn't realize it was sorta-kinda-a-little-bit of a companion to The Distance Between Us so I was pleasantly surprised to see some familiar faces. Full review to come.
Hysteria - Megan Miranda: 4 stars. Super creepy but very cool. Reminds me a lot of Brenna Yovanoff.
The Geography of You and Me - Jennifer E Smith: 4.5 stars. Lovely, just like I expected it. Jennifer writes young love as a product of perfectly random happenstance better than anyone.
#scandal - Sarah Ockler: 5 stars. This story is not going to age well considering pop culture and technology constantly evolve, but for now, it's a perfect capture of life in 2014. Excellent story with very relatable if not always likeable characters and, of course, an important Ockler moral or two. Full review to come.

Reread:

Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky #1) audiobook - Veronica Rossi & Bernadette Dunne: 2 stars. I really, really did not like Bernadette's voice. Her timber was so gravelly. She did okay boy voices (although they were not very unique or distinct), but her girl voices were pretty bad. Honestly, there were conversations between Aria and Perry where I got lost because I couldn't tell who was speaking. Also, her s's were to sharp. I felt like she was whistling at me. The first 20 minutes or so were so bad, I nearly turned it off. I got used to it, but I still wasn't impressed overall.

Currently Reading:

Grasshopper Jungle - Andrew Smith
Synchrony (Destiny #2) - Cindy Ray Hale

New to my bookshelf this week:

Library:

Nada! I haven't gone to the library since I got back.

Bought:

So this stack is a combination of: Amazon, two separate Barnes & Nobles, Little Shop of Stories, Parnassus Books, Books a Million, all three McKays franchises in Tennessee and two Half Price Books. All of these are for events, and if you're interested in signed copies of these books, you can contact the stores (Little Shop of Stories in Decatur, GA; Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN; B&N in Franklin, TN; Books-A-Million in Grapevine, TX; Half Price Books flagship in Dallas) to see if they have more copies for sale. Or...you could just wait for all the giveaways you all know I'm about to have (obviously) and try your luck with Rafflecopter.

 

 Amazon haul #1 

missing duplicate copies of Ignite Me & Unite Me for my giveaway

 Amazon #2

 Books-A-Million

 Barnes & Noble haul from both Dallas & Nashville

missing a copy of Shatter Me

The books on top were quite a surprise! Definitely

did some impulse buying. Kinda frustrating as I do

have copies of both Anna and Lola here in Dallas.

Buuuuut, c'est la vie! Can't really complain when 

I now have a signed copy!

 Little Shop of Stories

 McKays Chattanooga

Great selection, but their prices were absurdly expensive

for a used bookstore, especially considering the prices at

McKays Knoxville, which you can see below.

 McKays Knoxville

See? A nearly-brand-new copy of Split Second

for $6 because, after all, it was still used. At the

Chattanooga store, it was $18! Ditto the $3 copy 

of Vengeance, which I also found at the Chatt 

store for $18. I am NOT goingto pay $18 for a 

USED BOOK, no matter how new it actually is! 

Good thing I saw these two first.

 McKays Nashville

Funny how the Mckays in the biggest city had the worst

selection out of the three. I'm surprised I found any books 

at all there! I think it's because it's the newest and it's also 

kind of on the outskirts of Nashy. Also, do you see the

love I have for Simon Pulse's Romantic Comedies?!

 Parnassus Books

Missing: Half Price Books Haul

Losing Lila by Sarah Alderson (I love how HPB gets British books!!)

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Giveaways & Contests:

Technically, this is from last week, but I finally got a *book shimmy* tote!

Events Attended:
2/24: Lovestruck Tour feat Robin Constantine, Megan Miranda, Megan Shepherd & Kasie West @ Decatur, GA (bonus appearance by Lauren Morrill)
2/25: Courtney C. Stevens's Faking Normal launch @ Nashville, TN (bonus appearances by Victoria Schwab, Ruta Sepetys, and Myra McEntire)
2/27: Abbi Glines's Take a Chance launch @ Grapevine, TX
3/1: Victoria Scott's Fire & Flood launch @ Dallas, TX