Mundie Moms

Monday, August 31, 2015

SMOKED by Mari Mancusi / Blog Tour: Author Guest Post | Enter To WIN!





Hello and welcome to today's blog tour stop for SMOKED, the third book in Mari Mancusi's Scorched series. Today I'm thrilled to have Mari on the blog to share a list of her favorite dragon books. Enter for your chance to win a copy of SMOKED! Check out the giveaway at the bottom of the post. 


Favorite Dragon Books
By Mari Mancusi


There used to be this commercial for a hair-growth company for men. The man in the commercial became famous for his line, “I’m not only the president, I’m also a client.”


I always think of that when it comes to my own writing career. As in, I’m not only a writer of a dragon fiction—I’m also a huge fan.


That’s the great thing, actually, about being an author. You can choose to write books based on what you like to read—or what you would like to read more of but can’t find enough. You can take elements from various fandoms and mash them together into a work of your own imagination. When I started writing the Scorched series, I had already been a reader of fantasy fiction for years and was excited about the idea of creating a dragon mythos of my very own.


I’m often asked, now, what other dragon books are out there that I would recommend for others to read. There are so many great entries—it’s really hard to narrow them down, and a lot of them depend on what you’re looking for in your particular dragon fiction. Some people like a traditional tale, set in a fantasy kingdom. Some like a twist, with dragons invading our every day life, like I tried to do with Scorched. Still others may prefer dragon shape shifters like Julie Kagawa’s Talon series or Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina.


For this blog, I was asked to narrow it down to three recommendations. Not an easy task. So I decided to award winners in three unique categories.


Best Standalone:


HERO AND THE CROWN
Robin McKinley
This was a book I picked up from the Scholastic Book Club, back when I was a kid. I hadn’t read any other books by Robin McKinley at the time, but when I saw the cover and read the description I knew I had to have it. It’s about a princess who takes it upon herself to become a dragon slayer, inventing a burn salve that will protect her from the beasts’ fire. She is so determined and so kick-ass—I remember thinking that she was the coolest girl in the world.


Best sci-fi/fantasy mash-up:


THE DRAGONRIDERS OF PERN
Anne McCaffrey
This series began back in the 1960s and, at this point, consists of twenty something books. It deals with a society of people on a far away planet who have genetically engineered dragons to help fight a deadly thread that falls from their skies and destroys crops and kills people every so many years. (The dragons can burn the thread with their flames.) Each dragon is bonded to a rider at birth and the rider and dragon have a telepathic connection and can talk to one another. There are also mini dragons called Fire Lizards that are just so cute! And there’s some time travel elements as well that are particularly inventive and cool. This series can seem a bit daunting at first if you’re new to it, seeing as there are so many books, but it’s well worth the time and effort to give it a try. I would suggest starting with the omnibus edition of the first three books to whet your appetite.


Best non-fantasy setting:


TEMERAIRE
Naomi Novik
Imagine an alternative history of the Napoleonic Wars where soldiers use dragons to take down the enemy. This is the set-up for the long running Temeraire series, written by Naomi Novik. In this series you get plenty of action and intrigue from the war backdrop, but also a sweet, heartfelt story of a Captain and his unexpected friendship with a very special dragon. With so many dragon stories set in far off, medieval’esque kingdoms, this series is refreshingly unique and really, really cool. And the bond between Captain Laurence and Temeraire will tug at your heartstrings and make you both laugh and cry.


* * * * * * * * * * 

ABOUT THE BOOK
By: Mari Mancusi
Published by: SourceBooks
To Be Released on: September 1st, 2015
Series: Scorched #3
Pre-Order from: Amazon | B&N IndieBound 
Add It To Goodreads

Once upon a time the world burned.
Until a girl and her dragon smothered the flame.
But the spark that ignited the apocalypse never went out.
And the scorch is about to begin…

When Team Dragon rescues Emmy from the government lab, they think the future is finally safe. But they soon discover that Emmy has a secret—a secret so dangerous it could trigger the very apocalypse Connor and Caleb were sent back in time to prevent.

As a dragon hunter, Connor has committed his life to saving the world. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do to complete his mission…even if it meant betraying his brother and losing Trinity’s heart. Even if it meant doing the unthinkable.

But a desperate choice meant to prevent The Scorch, may be the spark that sets the world aflame once more.

The epic conclusion to the genre-bending Scorched series, which Melissa de la Cruz, New York Times bestselling author of the Blue Bloods series, called  "A heart-pounding, twisty, time-travel fantasy.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mari Mancusi is a two-time Emmy award-winning television producer and author of novels for adults and teens. A graduate of Boston University, she now lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and young daughter. When not writing or producing she enjoys traveling, snowboarding, reading fantasy novels, and her favorite guilty pleasure: video games.

THE GIVEAWAY
Thank you to SourceBooks, I've got one copy of Smoked to giveaway to one lucky reader! Open to residents in the US / Canada only. To enter, please fill out the form below. Good luck!

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Fire & Thorns Series Read-Along: The Crown of Embers, Chapters 21-30 #ReadingRae



Welcome to this week's #ReadingRae post! This week we're wrapping up our thoughts on The Crown of Embers. Today's discussion is for chapters 21-30. Since it's the end of the book, I also wanted to include my over all thoughts on the entire book, which I'll be sharing later this morning via a book review. Before I share my thoughts, and incase you're just joining us, here's a little bit about the sequel aka book #2 in the series:

ABOUT THE BOOK



By: Rae Carson
Published by: Harper Collins
Released On: September 18th, 2012
Series: The Girl of Fire and Thorns #2
Add it to Goodreads

She does not know what awaits her at the enemy's gate.

Elisa is a hero.

She led her people to victory over a terrifying, sorcerous army. Her place as the country's ruler should be secure. But it isn't.

Her enemies come at her like ghosts in a dream, from foreign realms and even from within her own court. And her destiny as the chosen one has not yet been fulfilled.

To conquer the power she bears, once and for all, Elisa must follow a trial of long-forgotten—and forbidden—clues, from the deep, hidden catacombs of her own city to the treacherous seas. With her go a one-eyed spy, a traitor, and the man whom—despite everything—she is falling in love with.

If she's lucky, she will return from this journey. But there will be a cost.


My Thoughts

Oh my word! Rae Carson what have you done!?! This book..... I'm so glad I have The Bitter Kingdom to dive right into. Oh wait, I already did when I accidentally picked it up instead of this book. I knew what to except, but I wasn't excepting that ending! Oh my heart! 

Okay before I get to the good stuff. I did not see those betrayals happening. Wow! As I said in last week's post (here), I love the women, and leader Elisa has grown into! She's taking charge and leading the way, and I love it! Romance wise, FINALLY! I swear Elisa and Hector just might be the two most stubborn people in this entire series. Right now, I'm so glad Elisa is even more stubborn than Hector, because I'm emotionally torn between crying and cheering with the end of this chapter, and what Elisa does. 

This is one of my favorite sequels. Instead of having her character revert, like often times I feel happens in sequels, Carson's characters flourished and grew into the characters I had hoped they would be and then some. I loved the direction this story took. I loved seeing the characters growth. I loved the romance, the friendships, and even the shocking twists. Loyalty is at it's finest in this book. I love Hector, Mara, and Belen. Yeah, I know. I never thought I'd say that about Belen. I didn't say this last week, as I didn't want to have any spoilers, but I really like Hector's brother Felix, and learning more about Hector. I loved this book!








Find out what these fabulous bloggers had to say about last week's post, when we discussed chapter 11-20: 

Next week we'll be talking about the final book in the series, The Bitter Kingdom!

ENTER TO WIN
Thank you to Fiktshun, we've got a sweet giveaway~ find out how you can enter to win below:

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Cassandra Clare Answers Fan Questions on Twitter / Mundane Monday #254




Happy Mundane Monday Shadowhunters! We're catching up on a few of Cassandra Clare's latest tweets answering fan questions about her writing, her books, the Shadowhunters TV show, and more. 

On Her Books / Writing
On Shadowhunters TV
Fanart 
From Shadowhunters TV

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