Mundie Moms

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

LIVE Chat with Heist Society author, Ally Carter TONIGHT!!



*Our chat will start at 8 pm CST/ 9 pm EST. To join, hit join and enter a screen name.!

*We do our best to make sure all comments are published, but with the high volume of guests expected tonight, not all the questions may be answered in the hour time frame of the chat.

*In respect to our guest's time, we will only publish comments that pertain to their current writings, and book.

*We will not post any personal questions or comments.

* Any rude, disrespectful, or spam like comments will not be published.

*Thank you and we look forward to chatting with everyone tonight!

**No part of this chat is allowed to be used with out our permission**

Blog Tour- Desires of the Dead

We are excited to be apart of Kimberly Derting's Desires of the Dead blog tour. You can read my review for Desires of the Dead here. Today we get to share Violet's Library!

Violet has eclectic taste in reading, but she tends to steer away from the really dark books that I grew up loving, like Stephen King and Thomas Harris (Silence of the Lambs). She prefers things a little…lighter. With a “gift” like hers, can you blame her?

1. To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee (okay, maybe this is MY favorite too)

2. Charlotte’s Web by EB White (a childhood favorite!)

3. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

4. I Heart You, You Haunt Me by Lisa Schroeder

5. A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (yes, the entire series)

6. Night by Elie Wiesel

7. Looking for Alaska by John Green

8. The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

9. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

….and

10. Prada & Prejudice by Mandy Hubbard

AND that's not all! Thank you to Kimberly, Harper Teen and The Teen Scene, we are giving away a SIGNED hardcover of Desires of the Dead along with some signed swag (bookmarks, stickers and a bracelet)! To enter, please read the giveaway rules and fill out this form below-


Here's a little bit about the book-

Published by Harper Teen
Released 2/15/2011

The missing dead call to Violet. They want to be found.

Violet can sense the echoes of those who've been murdered—and the matching imprint that clings to their killers. Only those closest to her know what she is capable of, but when she discovers the body of a young boy she also draws the attention of the FBI, threatening her entire way of life.

As Violet works to keep her morbid ability a secret, she unwittingly becomes the object of a dangerous obsession. Normally she'd turn to her best friend, Jay, except now that they are officially a couple, the rules of their relationship seem to have changed. And with Jay spending more and more time with his new friend Mike, Violet is left with too much time on her hands as she wonders where things went wrong. But when she fills the void by digging into Mike's tragic family history, she stumbles upon a dark truth that could put everyone in danger (quoted from Goodreads)

Book Review - Heist Society

Written by: Ally Carter
Published by: Disney-Hyperion
Release Date: February 1, 2010
Source - Purchased

5 out of 5 stars - this book is a must have!!!!

Synopsis (from Disney-Hyperion): When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre ... to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria ... to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned 15, she planned a con of her own -- scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected.

Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason -- a powerful mobster's art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat's father isn't just on the suspect list, he IS the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat's dad needs her help.

For Kat there is only one solution -- track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it's a spectacularly impossible job? She's got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family's (very crooked) history -- and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

Let me start off with a confession, one of my all time favorite movies is "How to Steal a Million" starring Audrey Hepburn. As a kid, when this movie came on TV, I would pause everything and watch it. Because Audrey was in it. And the witty dialogue simply crackled with well-written banter. And in the end, it was about a very special kind of a heist, one which involved family. I still love movies and documentaries about museum thefts, and I remembered this when I glanced through my toppling To Be Read pile. There it was amongst the paranormal stories -- a book that called out to me with it's smirky, teasing glance behind sunglasses. It reminded me of Audrey and it reminded me that I love more than just my beloved paranormal stories. So, I picked it up.

A few hours later, I closed the last page and I wanted to go back immediately into Kat's world. Kat is not only smart but she's savvy enough to be fully aware of the risks she's taking on and putting others into. But here's the catch, they're all "family" even if they're not always related by genetics, so they stick together and help each other out. Sure their motivations are different, but it makes them collectively formidable. Ally wrote these characters with such attention to detail that I can't help loving them all -- Uncle Eddie, the Italian bombshell cousin, Gabrielle and then, well, there's Hale.

I'm going to stop for a second and give you a sample of Hale -- handsome, debonair and always there for Kat. (from page 52, Kat and Hale have stopped off at the International Association of Advanced Mathematics and Research conference in Las Vegas):
"You know," Hale's breath was warm against Kat's ear in the chilly ballroom --" I don't know that both of us really have to be here....." The slide changed. While hundreds of mathematicians waited with baited breath, the boy beside Kat whispered, "I could go make some calls...check on some things..."
"Play some blackjack?"
"Well, when in Rome..."
"Rome is tomorrow, babe," Kat reminded him.
He nodded. "Right."
As for the plot -- it's brilliant. Each chapter title reminded me of their ever decreasing timeline, and as I saw the destinations and the days change, I found my heart trying to pace my fingers and their increasingly quick flips of each page. Without giving away any spoilers, this book has it all. It has enough background to make the reasoning for the heist believable. It has characters who will leave you smiling or shaking your head in frustration and it has, yes, just enough romance for it not to be distracting. But most of all, it has a pitch perfect pace and that's exactly what I craved as I shuffled books around on my nightstand. I wanted that oh-wow-will-they-be-able-to-pull-this-off feeling and Ally gave that to me in a story where many threads came together beautifully.

My only issue with it, is that I wanted more. Fortunately the sequel, Uncommon Criminals will be released on June 21, 2011, so you now know where I'll be on that day. One word: bookstore. I spied a mini-excerpt from it on Ally's site. Go on, take a look. Oh wait, here's another one, here.

And I also saw her announcement that Warner Brothers has optioned the rights to the movie. I think, Mundie Moms, this one's going to be big. So take a look at that TBR pile of yours, and pick it up. I know, it's in there. 

Join us for our chat with Ally, TONIGHT, right here on the blog at 9PM EST/8 PM CST.

Twitter Tuesday - The Last Presidents' Day Weekend Mini-Excerpt from Clockwork Prince


Well, the three-day Presidents Day weekend is over and so are the mini-excerpts from Clockwork Prince. And it's just my opinion, but I think Cassie saved the best for last. Get ready to sigh, MMs:

Cassie: Magnus and ...? mid-book, about Will.
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“He’s Nephilim,” said his companion. “And you’ve never cared for them. How much did he pay you?”
“Nothing,” said Magnus, and now he was not seeing anything that was there, not the river, not Will, only a wash of memories: eyes, faces, lips, receding into memory, love that he could no longer put a name to. “He did me a favor. One he doesn’t even remember.”
“He’s very pretty. For a human.”
“He’s very broken,” said Magnus. “Like a lovely vase that someone has smashed. Only luck and skill can put it back together the way it was before.”

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