Mundie Moms

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Mundie Moms Giving Back Give Away

In anticipation of the upcoming release of Beautiful Creatures, our chats with Kami Garcia on Dec. 7th @ 5 pm PST AND Dec. 15th with Margaret Stohl and of the holiday season, we decided we wanted to give away some pretty awesome Beautiful Creatures swag to those who give back to their local community.

Here's all you have to do, and it doesn't have to cost anything (these are a few ideas we came up with. Please feel free to add to this list) During the duration of the contest do one of the following:
*donate your time by reading to a group of children at your local Children's Hospital, shelter or library.
*donate gently used or new books to your local Children's Shelter, Children's Hospital, or library.
*donate books to your local toy drives
*send books to our troops over seas
There's so many ways to give back and serve in our communities.

Here's what you can win:
Grand Prize Winner will receive the SIGNED hard copy of Beautiful Creatures. *thank you to Kami and Margaret for the Beautiful Creatures book and the wonderful swag*
The First Prize Winner will receive a SIGNED Beautiful Creatures book plate, a BC bracelet, blow pop and a BC sticker.
The Second Prize Winner will receive a 5x7 BC picture (done by Vania at http://reveriemedia.blogspot.com/), milk duds *sorry they didn't make it in the picture*, the lemonhead lip balm and BC sticker.
The Third Prize Winner will receive a BC bookmark, a BC sticker, a BC bracelet and the popcorn.
The Fourth Winner will receive BC dog tags, a BC bracelet, BC sticker, sour apple lip balm and red hots.
3 additional Winners will each win-
* a signed Chasing Brooklyn book mark by Lisa Schroeder
* Bree Despain's The Dark Divine bookmark and sticker
* Heidi Kling's Sea book mark

Here's how you enter:
+10 entries for donations/service
+2 for being a Mundie Moms member
+1 for being a blog member
+1 for following us on Twitter
+1 for being a member of our facebook group
+2 for tweeting this
+2 for blogging this

Please be sure to tell us what you did in your post. It doesn't have to be really specific, other than for example, "I donated books to Dell Children's Hospital." Please don't forget to leave a valid email address. This is open to our international members/followers as well.

This contest will end on December 4th, 2009 at noon CST. Winner names will be announced on our blog.
Please ignore my horrible pictures that were taken via my phone.

Review - Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz


Publisher: Disney Hyperion November 10, 2009
Hardcover, 282 pages
3 out of 5 Stars

Last fall, sixteen-year-old Camelia fell for Ben, the mysterious new boy at school who turned out to have a very mysterious gift--pyschometry, the ability to sense the future through touch. But just as Camelia and Ben's romance began to heat up, he abruptly left town. Brokenhearted, Camelia has spent the last few months studying everything she can about psychometry, and experiencing her own strange brushes with premonition. Camelia wonders if Ben's abilities have somehow rubbed off on her. Can the power of psychometry be transferred?

Even once Ben returns to school, Camelia can't get close enough to share her secret with him. Despite the romantic tension between them, Ben remains aloof, avoiding contact. Then when an unexpected kiss leads to a frightening argument, Camelia makes the painful decision to let Ben go and move on. Adam, the hot new guy at work, seems good for her in ways Ben wasn't. Adam is easygoing, and seems to really care about her.But when Camelia and Adam start dating, a surprising love triangle results. A chilling sequence of events upturns secrets from Ben's past--and Adam's. Someone is lying, and it's up to Camelia to figure out who-before it's too late.

Deadly Little Lies picks up straight where Secret left off. Camelia is struggling to deal with her abduction the previous summer and having Ben leave town. Her family life is still not back to normal, and the unresolved issues between her mother and aunt Alexia simmer in this installment of the Touch Series. Ben's return to town makes Cameila feel like a boat lost at sea; he doesn't seem to want to have anything to do with Camelia and is cold and distant. Camelia attempts to move on with her new work friend, Adam, but the relationship is a battle with the feelings she still has towards Ben and the fact the he seems jealous at this turn of events. Even more strange is the voices Camelia is hearing and the premoitions she has in the form of her pottery work. Desperate to try and piece her life back together, Cameila is faced with a painful memories of her past; the notes and threatening phone calls have started again.
 
I was a little wary to read this installment, because I didn't enjoy the first installment as much as I had hoped. However, I think I preferred this novel more due to the well paced story line which flowed a lot easier. There was a lot more emotion instilled into the story, which meant Camelia seemed to have more depth, and I seemed to undertand her attraction to Ben, which wasn't there for me in the first book. The stalker aspect of the story was handled effectively and more than a little creepy. However, Stolarz didn't do justice to her writing skills. Too many clues were left behind and I had figured out the culprict before Camelia, which diminished the scary side for me, that was more pronounced at the beginning of the book.

As a lover of urban fantasy, I would have loved Camelia to explore her pshyic powers a little more, push the boundries. Maybe this will be explored more in the third book, which is due to be published late 2010. Also, the minor characters in the form of Kimmie and Wes, seemed to have little interection and seemed to serve no other purpose other than lighten the mood. Kimmie's family does get more light shone on them, and we can learn through Camelia's observations the break down of a family and how it affects Kimmie, which was a noce touch. I do hope they both get a little bit more time in the third book.

The ending for me was exactly how I wanted it to end and set the bar up for Deadly Little Games, which I am looking forward to reading. I am pleased that I stuck with this series and it seems to be paying off, and if the improvements continue, I think the last book in the series will be fantastic. I look forward to reading it.

Twitter Tuesday - Rachel Hawkins


I have to admit that a few of us Mundie Moms are anxiously awaiting the release of Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall.

Have you heard of it? No? Check out the synopsis -

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her
.



Some of us have even pre-ordered it already and in case you want to follow suit, here's the handy link.

But mostly, we have laughed with her on twitter because of tweets like the ones below -








Hex Hall comes out March 2, 2010 and personally, I can hardly wait to see what Rachel has cooked up as far as characters and plot.

In the mean time, while we wait for March, here are a few links you can look through - Rachel's website and her publishers website, Disney-Hyperion.

Mundie Moms can hardly wait to be "hexed".

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