The Evernight Series by Claudia Gray

Book Title: Evernight
Author: Claudia Gray
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 327
Release date: May 2008
Source: Author/ Publisher
Synopsis
Sixteen year old Bianca is against the idea of moving with her parents to the Evernight Academy from the small town where she was raised. Her parents would be taking jobs as teachers at the academy so naturally Bianca would be a student there.
Evernight is a boarding school with most of its popularity consisting of sleeks, smart and almost predatory students. These students are evidently more than humans. Bianca doesn’t quite fit in with the other students in her school.
Like every other rebellious teen, Bianca plans to run away on the first day of school however she bumps into brooding Lucas who drills some sense into her plans of escaping. She instantly forms a connection with him, the only person in the eerie place who seems decent enough. But sometimes secrets can rip apart the little connections we have with the people we might love.
My thoughts on the book:
I’ve got three words to describe this book: - amazing, brilliant, enchanting.
The storyline is original and yet it is not entirely out from the latest trend of stories that continue to rake in millions of teen readers across the globe in this season of YA genre. This book is the type with the saleable storyline and yet it still retains its own ingenuity. Claudia is truly an amazing story teller. The story was written beautifully and it was captivating.
I especially loved the part where Bianca first met Lucas. It was so cute!

Rating : 4 ½ stars !

Book Title: Stargazer
Author: Claudia Gray
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 332
Release date: March 2009
Source: Author/ Publisher
Synopsis
In the second book of the Evernight Series, Bianca and Lucas face the harsh reality of their secrets and pasts.
Bianca has fallen irrevocably in love with Lucas. The only thing standing in between their relationship is the fact that Bianca is a destined vampire while Lucas is a Black Cross member, a cult sworn to slay vampires. When Lucas’s true identity is revealed, he is forced to flee the Evernight Academy.
However the star-struck lovers, Bianca and Lucas would stop at nothing to see each other and be together once again. Bianca sneaks out to meet up with Lucas no matter how dangerous their situation is. Keeping secrets and lies from both equally dangerous parties have their own grave consequences if one of Lucas’s and Bianca’s secrets is revealed to either party.
Soon, Bianca finds out that she isn’t the only keeping secrets in her family. When wraiths starts attacking the Evernight Academy and makes it clear that they are targeting her, Bianca learns the truth behind her existence.
My thoughts on this book:
The most adorably exhilarating modern day Romeo and Juliet tale I’ve ever read! This book was filled with so much suspense that I couldn’t stop reading it and when I was done, I wished I had the third book Hourglass!

Ratings: 5 Stars!

Book Title: Hourglass
Author: Claudia Gray
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 339
Release date: March 2010
Source: Self Bought
Synopsis
Bianca elopes from the Evernight Academy for real this time. After the fire that ravaged the academy, Bianca and Lucas seeks refuge in the Black Cross Camp.
Being a vampire while living with vampire hunters is a treacherous position to be in especially when Bianca has to go through the tough training and boot-camp lifestyle of being a vampire hunter. Bianca has to discreetly satiate her hunger for blood.
But one day her secret was exposed when she was careless. A friend closest to her heart has betrayed her. Once again Lucas and Bianca are on the run.
This time, they have the Black Cross, the members of the Evernight Academy and Charity hunting them down. To make things worse, even the wraiths seems to want their fare share of Bianca.
Will Bianca and Lucas survive the battle or will the last resort to save their lives be ‘changing’ into a being neither of them ever dreamt of being?
My thoughts on the book:
It’s always good to have a wickedly awesome twist at the end of the story when the readers expect it the least. Suspense and action kept me hooked on this series.
Bianca is just an amazing strong girl with perseverance and faith as large as the Pacific Ocean. I believe girls would be able to look up to Bianca and make her a good example of a fighter we all should embody as a part of ourselves in order to survive in this harsh modern day reality.

Ratings : 5 Stars!

(*I do not receive any form of monetary payment for the book reviews/interviews/giveaways done on this blog. Book reviews/interviews/giveaways are done out of my own initiative and willingness as well as those of the corresponding parties involved. Books reviewed are provided out of the kindness and generosity of various sources. To those sources that make the reviews possible I wish to direct my heartiest thanks to.)

Thank you for checking out my latest reviews! You are awesome for a blog reader ! Here's a smiley for you :)

July's book review :)

Penitence by Jennifer Laurens

Book Title: Penitence

Author: Jennifer Laurens

Publisher: Grove Creek Publishing

Pages: 311

Release date: 25 June 2010

Source: Author/ Publisher

Synopsis

In this second book of the YA trilogy, Zoe faces more perils and complications. After saving her from a car accident in the previous book Heavenly, Matthias, Zoe’s guardian angel disappears from her life. Zoe, at a loss of the absence of Matthias soothing presence, believes that the appearance of Albert, Matthias’s father is to replace his son’s place. However what she doesn’t know is, Albert is after her soul. To complicate the situation, Zoe feels the weight of her brother’s worsening drug addiction, the frustration her family feels towards caring for her autistic little sister , and her best friend’s jealousy, bearing down on her shoulders. Will Matthias return to save her soul from his vengeful and sadistic father? 

My thoughts on the book

It would be very unfair to compare Penitence to another book or story because this story is just awesome by itself. Penitence has a voice of its own and its difference from the other books out there in the same genre is the strongest point in this book. I believe many of us sympathize with Zoe’s pending situation in the story while some of us can even relate to it in our some part of our lives. It is a very touching story, moving, a simply poignant page turner. I have to admit that this story left me wishing that I too, had a hot and sexy guardian angel looking over me to keep me safe.

Ratings : 5 Stars


Thank you for taking time to read my blog. I hope that you enjoyed reading this review on Penitence by Jennifer Laurens.

(*I do not receive any form of monetary payment for the book reviews/interviews/giveaways done on this blog. Book reviews/interviews/giveaways are done out of my own initiative and willingness as well as those of the corresponding parties involved. Books reviewed are provided out of the kindness and generosity of various sources. To those sources that make the reviews possible I wish to direct my heartiest thanks to.)

Flowers do Talk with Amy Brecount White

I have never met a person who loves flowers or gardening like Amy Brecount White. I can't possibly imagine sweating in the hot Malaysian weather gardening. But I know i love flowers especially red tulips !


Here's my interview with Amy Brecount white! Enjoy!

1. What inspired you to write a book on “Magic Flowers” ? How did the amazing concept to write on flowers begin?

I found a book on tussie-mussies (Victorian symbolic bouquets) and wanted to write a newspaper article about them. I never did, but I made a bouquet for a friend who had cancer. I wished my flowers messages could come true for her and started thinking, what if they really did?

2. I understand that different flowers signify different meanings. Do you have a favorite one? Why?
I adore gardenias, because they are simple, lovely and smell so wonderful. They mean "ecstasy and transport" in the language of flowers.

3. If you could be a flower which one would you be? Why?

Maybe a petunia because they bloom all summer long. Purple petunias are usually fragrant too! :-)

4. You visited the BEA in New York a few weeks back. How was it? Can you give us a little sneak peak on what goes on behind the scenes in the Author/Book World for those of us who live thousand miles away and unfortunately couldn’t make it for the event?
It was very exciting!!! I got to meet and hang out with lots of fun authors and bloggers, whom I'd met only online. And at the booths, they are passing out free books almost everywhere you turn. Pretty cool. Plus you get to visit NYC. I love the museums and restaurants especially.

5. Did you always want to be an author? If no, can you please share with us on how you realized that you wanted to be one?

I knew I wanted to be one when I was about 19 years old. However, I taught and wrote articles for many years before getting enough courage to write a novel. It's a leap of faith.


6. Is there going to be another book which will pick up from Forget-Her-Nots?

I'm hoping that my editors will be interested in a companion novel. My second novel, STRING THEORIES, has nothing to do with flowers, though.

7. Are we going to get a chance to read any of your latest projects soon? A new book perhaps?
I hope so!! My agent is doing a final review now.

8. Do you have a favorite book/author/movie that somehow inspired you to write Forget-Her-Nots?
I love Jane Austen, Kristin Cashore, and everything about gardens. I spent lots of time in gardens and reading novels that I admired.

9. When you write, what gets you in the writing mode? A comfy chair, a specific music, food?
Absolute silence. I need to be able to hear my characters talk. And some Earl Grey tea with milk. :-)

10. If you could be a character in a book, which character would you be and why ? Hermione Granger. She's so intelligent and a wonderful friend. Anne of Green Gables would be great fun, too.

11. Is the main character for Forget-her-nots somehow a reflection of you/a person you know?

I think all my characters have a part of me in them. Authors have to be able to imagine what it's like to be almost anyone.

Thank you Amy for the interview! To my readers, i hope you enjoyed reading the interview and learning more about the amazing author Amy Brecount White and her writing as much as i did doing it! :)

The Iron Daughter with author Julie Kagawa

BOOK INFORMATION

Release Date:  1^st August 2010
Published: Harlequin
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 361
Overall:  5 stars
From: publisher (netGalley)

Review on The Iron Daughter by Julie Kagawa

I almost forgot how it felt like to read a book so mesmerizing that it kept you reading until you are far behind the last pages of it and are still flipping through the pages once more reviving your favorite parts of the story once more.  The moment I started reading the Iron Daughter, I couldn’t help myself from devouring the entire story in one day! I started reading this book in the morning and I carried my laptop (this book is a digital ARC) with me so I can read it even when I had dinner that night!

I was completely enthralled by the riveting tale and Julie’s amazing storytelling talent. Even though I didn’t get the chance to read the first book The Iron King, I still managed to keep up with the storyline in this book. The vivid flashbacks and explanations helped me a lot in understanding what I missed out in the previous book. This could very well be a standalone title.

In this book, Meghan faces a threat more life-altering than the Iron King attack. The book starts off with Meghan dreaming of herself killing her beloved Winter Court Prince, Ash. She is held in the Winter Court when she made a deal with Ash in the previous book. Ash treats her coldly and denies that he has ever had had feeling s for her before.

Then one day the Scepter of the Seasons is stolen from the Winter Court. As fate has it, Ash and Meghan is thrown on a perilous journey to retrieve the scepter before the war which may destroy both the Winter and Summer Court erupt. Together with help from a few allies, they save the scepter from the misuse of the new Iron King.

But what about Ash and Meghan’s relationship? Summer and Winter was never made for each other. Will their love for each other survive the nature and rules of their courts?

This is a must-read book!

Interview with author JULIE KAGAWA

1.When you were a little girl, have you always harboured the dream of being an author? Was it an ambition you always had in mind?

            Well, at first I wanted to be a veterinarian, but then I discovered how much math and science were required to become a vet.  And since numbers hate me, I decided then to become an author.

2. Why do you choose to be an author?

            Because I can’t not write.  Even when I’m doing everyday things, I’m thinking about writing. And since I can’t stop, I might as well do it for a living.    

   

3. Why did you choose to write YA ?

            I started off writing for adults, but since all my protagonists were teens, my agent suggested I write for YA.  I love it. I don’t think I’d ever go back to writing for adults.

4. Do you have a specific time of the day which puts you at much ease when you write? In other words, do you wake up right at the break of dawn to write or you write on late into the night like a night owl ?

            For me, writing is my job, so I start at a specific time in the morning, then write till five pm, everyday except weekends. 

5. What inspired the storyline of Iron King? Have you always wanted to write about Faeries?

            I’ve always loved fey stories, the dark, creepy kind.  When I started Iron King, I wanted a story that would show a different type of faery no one had ever seen before. So, the Iron Fey were born. 

6. Can you please share with us what goes on in the coming books?

            In The Iron Daughter, Meghan must make several hard decisions, most importantly the choice of who she loves more: Ash or Puck?  And in The Iron Queen, the war with the Iron fey finally comes to a head, and Faery will never be the same.

7. What are the publishing plans for the trilogy?

            The Iron Daughter will be out August 1^st, 2010.  The Iron Queen will be released in the February of 2011. (CAN”T WAIT!)

8. Which character in your novel you favor the most? Which is the easiest character to write about ?

            I have to say Ash is my favorite, because I’ve always had a thing for dark, brooding Bad Boys who can wield pointy objects. ( I LOOVE BAD BOYS!)  But Grimalkin of course runs a very close second and was by far the most fun to write.

9. Did you face any trouble or being stumped for ideas when you wrote the book? If you did, how did you overcome it ?

            I wrote The Iron King for NaNo Wrimo, where you have to write 50,000 words in 30 days, so it all went by very quickly.  I usually skip over places I have trouble with, then come back to it when the first draft is done. 

Thank you Julie for the interview! Hope you enjoyed reading my review and the interview  :)

This post is for the month of JULY !

Interview with Jennifer Laurens !

I remembered how I first started communicating with Jennifer Laurens. When I accepted her friend request on my Facebook account, I checked out her profile. I was shocked that an author added me instead of vice versa. She was indeed the most strange but in a cool way author I've ever met. It was when I was browsing through her posts that I saw one which said "Message me your address to get Heavenly bookmarks!"

I never got an autographed bookmark before then so I jumped at the chance to get one and immediately messaged her. I received the bookmarks a few weeks later and I was ecstatic; not many authors I knew at that time sent stuff outside of  the US.

A few months ago, when I started writing book reviews for a local newspaper, i came up with this idea, I wanted to create a book blog which allowed me to reach a wider international base of readers. I wanted to encourage more teens to read. I wrote to Jennifer Laurens and she sent me a copy of Heavenly. She also agreed to do an interview with me to run together with the book review of Heavenly. So here's my interview with one of the most friendliest and nicest author I know :)

1. Describe what you feel when you write. 


When I first started writing seriously ( about 9 years ago ) I literally couldn’t wait to wake up and hit the keyboard, I was so excited to write. Why do I write? I started writing because my teenage girls wanted to read romance without the explicit sex. I write now because I feel like the market needs uplifting stories teens can relate to about life and its challenges. Anytime I can share an experience and get a letter from a reader telling me I helped them somehow, I am pleased. 

2. How long did it take you to finish writing your first book including the previous drafts that didn't make it? 


I’m working on my very first book right now. I wrote it 9 years ago, and it’s been through countless drafts. COUNTLESS. But I’ve always loved the story and am now re-writing it for the YA audience. Originally, it was a women’s romance.

3. What is it like to be a mother and an author at the same time? 


Mother comes first, and feeds the author creative experiences. All of my stories come from real life experiences to some degree or another. Heavenly being the most auto-biographical. Life is busy with six children and a child with autism – and her demands never ease up.

4. Tell us a little more on what inspired your concept and idea to write Heavenly and Penitence? Where were you, what were you doing when you first had that idea? 


Heavenly is my family’s story dealing with our child with autism. Each of us has had our own difficulty accepting and learning to live with her, and the challenges impacted us in so many ways, it’s not easy to put it all in a nutshell. But I believe Heavenly gives the perfect glimpse of what life is like with a handicapped child. Also, I felt such a great loss for so long with my daughter who has autism. My journey coming to grips with her life, the meaning of her life and what would become of her both tore me apart and built a foundation for me to deal with her on a daily basis. Heavenly is truly our family story. Penitence is a more fictitious dimension and addition to the story. 

5. May i ask who is Cooper? You dedicated Heavenly to him. Share with us, how much and why he means a lot to you ? (if this question is too personnel, go ahead and skip it ) 


Cooper is my nephew, and you’re the first person to ever ask about him. Thank you. He was four years old when, on the first day of Kindergarten, his mother was walking him to school ( he was riding his bike ) and an underage, 14 year-old driver hit and killed him at the bus stop. Very tragic. Amazingly enough, my brother and sister in law forgave the family of the driver and embraced them into their family. That was a real miracle. Their story touched many lives.

6. Penitence is the continuous of Heavenly am I right? Tell us what goes on in that book?


 Penitence is Zoe dealing with mortality. Human, physical love versus the deep spiritual love and connection she has for Matthias. Each character has to pay a price for the choices they make: hence, the name Penitence.


7. Is there going to be another book after Penitence? 


Absolution is the final book. It’s due out at the end of this year. 


8. What are your publishing plans like?


In 2011 I have the story I mentioned above coming out. More on that later.


9. Would you rather be, a guardian angel or the person guarded by a guardian angel? Please illustrate on the answer of your choice. (Who would you protect if you chose to be a guardian angel and who do you think in your life is your guardian angel?) 


I’m absolutely positive guardian angel’s exist and watch over us. My thoughts on this came from years of seeing my daughter ( and other children ) survive things that wouldn’t have ended the way they did without the help of some unseen hand helping out. This idea has given me so much comfort over the years, I wanted to share it. I’ve always been fascinated with life after death, and who to watch over us better than our loved ones who’ve passed on before? If you died tomorrow, you wouldn’t stop loving and caring about the people in your life you love and care about today, right?

10. Why do you choose to write about a troubled kid with parents who look pat her problems? Do you know a person who is/was in the same situation as Zoe? 


Zoe is a combination of my two daughters who each learned to accept and love and live with our daughter with autism differently, so , yes, I do know a person like Zoe. My girls are one of the reasons I wrote Heavenly.


Thank you Jennifer for sharing with us on Heavenly and about writing.

Heavenly by Jennifer Laurens

Publisher: Grove Creek Publishing
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 280
Overall: 4 1/2 stars
Source: Author

When I read the first few pages of this book, I was instantly drawn towards the story. I was immediately held in Zoe’s world; a world, a far cry from the standards of perfect or even regular which made me felt how lucky I was.

Zoe and her brother are mostly ignored by their parents who pay most of their attention towards Zoe’s youngest sibling who has autism. Zoe and her brother both have their own problems. They are not really perfect. Zoe has a drinking binge while her brother is a pot head.

One day, Zoe meets a strange but undeniably hot guy named Matthias in the park while babysitting her autistic sister Abria. She is instantly attracted to him. She begins to harbor the hope of seeing him again. Zoe doesn’t realize that she and maybe only a handful of people around her can see Matthias. She learns it in the most amusing way that most of the other people around her don’t seem to see him and in their eyes, it looks like she was talking to herself or a tree instead of Matthias who they do not see… But the problem of other people not seeing Matthias is minor compared to the fragile relationship they share. Matthias and Zoe are never made for each for each other. They can never be equal. Matthias was once human but not anymore. He is more than human now.

I totally understand Zoe’s feeling for Matthias. Just like her friend’s Chase stated, it is very easy to fall in love with the person protecting you especially when no other mortal guy can be there twenty-four/seven to watch your back and to keep you out of danger’s way especially if he is hot !

I find this story unique and original in a positive way. The storyline was unexpected. Having read so many other YA books, I honestly thought I had an idea on what was going to happen next in my head. In fact, I had the entire story playing in my head before I even finished the book. But I was wrong. This isn’t one of the almost cliché books I have so frequently found filling most of the shelves in the bookstores. The reader gets drawn into Zoe’s life, the conflicts she faces in it and the star-struck relationship she has with her guardians, the jealously between her and her best friend. It is one of the most amazing books I’ve read so far J

Review by Eibhlin Lim J

Interview with Author of upcoming book Night Shade by Andrea Cremer

Night Shade by Andrea Cremer is published by Philomel and released on October 19th 2010. To learn more about this wonderful upcoming novel while anticipating to get our hands on it, I have been lucky enough to get a chance to interview author Andrea.  Here it goes !

Can you tell us more on Nightshade? Share with us in detail on what's the story about. 

Nightshade is the story of Calla Tor - on her upcoming eighteenth birthday she’ll become the alpha female of the next generation of Guardian wolves who have fought for centuries on the front lines of the Witches’ War. But her predestined path veers off course when she saves the life of a wayward hiker, a human boy. Startled by her own violation of the law she’s sworn to uphold, she hopes the stranger will soon be a distant memory. When the boy turns out to be a new student in her school, Calla’s random act of kindness spirals into a whirlwind of deceit, hidden histories, and forbidden love.

How was the ride to being an published author ?

Surprising! I'd spent my whole life writing, but I never pursued publication. Then two summers ago I was in a horseback riding accident where I ended up with a broken foot. I couldn't walk for eight weeks, so I decided to finally go after my dream of writing a novel. I was hooked instantly and knew there was no going back. I wrote two "practice" novels that will live forever in my desk drawers and then I wrote Nightshade. I knew from the beginning it was "the one," and I began querying agents.  Charlie Olsen, my phenomenal agent at InkWell, requested the full manuscript and called me to say he loved it in March 2009. I did more revisions with Charlie and we went on submission in the summer of 2009, receiving a pre-empt from Michael Green at Philomel shortly thereafter. It was amazing - and in the publishing world, it happened at record speed.

What inspired you to write Nightshade? 

Nightshade is Calla's story and she was the inspiration for the book. I tend to write from characters and Calla was floating around in my head for a week or two before I started putting her story onto the page. I knew she was a girl who was also a wolf. I knew she was strong, but also in serious trouble. I couldn't figure out how someone so powerful could be in that sort of a fix. That's where Nightshade's world emerged, it was all about building a history and society that explained Calla's predicament.

Why wolves?

Friends who knew I was a vampire girl presumed that meant I love ALL forms of paranormal, so they’d push werewolves at me enthusiastically. I wasn’t interested, and I couldn’t figure out why. After all they were fierce, strong, magical – all things I liked. So what was the problem? And then it hit me – I didn’t like werewolves because I love wolves. That’s right – I’m a wolf girl, but a real wolf girl. I grew up so far North in Wisconsin that it’s practically Canada. Wolves roamed the forests of my homeland. I also loved National Geographic specials even more than cartoons. So by age 9 I could rattle off biological and ecological info like a pro. Wolves to me were beautiful, intelligent, social, and graceful. Werewolves seemed to be none of these things. The werewolves I’d encountered on page and screen were hideous – half man/half beast, usually ugly, often unintelligent, driven only by rage or bloodlust.   And worst of all: they didn’t want to be wolves. Lycanthropy occurs as a curse, or a disease. The endgoal of most werewolf tales was to kill the wolf or free the affected person of the wolf curse. I couldn’t come to grips with that idea. If someone asked me – hey wanna turn into a wolf? I’d say “heck, yeah!” Wouldn’t you rather be a wolf? From what I know of wolves, the answer is indisputably YES. Nightshade’s Guardians are my way of coming to terms with my love of wolves and my trouble with classic werewolf tales. Calla – the alpha female who narrates Nightshade – is powerful and revels in her life as a wolf.

Have you always wanted to be an author?

My journey has been an odd, wondrous trip. It started when a horse jumped on my foot in the summer of 2008, setting me on crutches for eight weeks. I couldn't do anything so I decided I'd finally try writing a novel - something I'd always dreamed about doing but had never given myself permission to try. Once I started writing I couldn't stop - and I knew there was no going back. It was terrifying - knowing I had a dream that I wanted so much and yet had no idea how to make it happen. I was a complete publishing "n00b." There's a myth among aspiring writers that you can't get published without connections. It really is a myth. When I made the commitment to publish Nightshade even if it took everything I had, I didn't know anything about that world. I did research. I learned about agents, practiced writing queries. Submitted to the agencies that seemed the best fits for my work. And my ms was pulled out of the slush pile. No connections whatsoever. To get published you need patience, an iron will, and belief in the value of what you've written.

How long did it take you to write Nightshade?

I wrote the first draft between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2008. I did revisions on my own in January. My agent requested the full manuscript in February and offered representation in March. I did more revisions with my agent that spring and we went on submission in the summer of 2009 and the book sold shortly thereafter. 

How many drafts were there before the final product which of course was published came about? Can you tell us the difference between the other drafts and the published one? What was lacking in the first few drafts and was there other characters which isn't in the published Nightshade ? If there was, what became of them?

I did a couple of rounds of revisions with my agent in the spring of 2009 and after Penguin purchased the book I did another couple of rounds with my editor in September. None of the characters changed, but I added more of Calla's internal thoughts and emotions as part of the revision - which was a challenge because Calla likes to keep her feelings to herself!

Did any other authors or books inspired your style of writing ?

Writers who’ve had a major influence on my thinking and writing are Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Kingsolver, David Eddings, and Marion Zimmer Bradly. A few of the many YA authors I admire are Cassandra Clare, Maggie Stiefvater, Richelle Mead, Laurie Halse Anderson, John Green, and Libba Bray.

Who is your favorite fictional character? Why? Can you relate to her/him in any way?

I really love Anne of Green Gables because she is smart, feisty and constantly imagining fantastic worlds around her. 

 Why did you name the book Night Shade?

Nightshade (bella donna) is a deadly herb. It's the name of Calla's Guardian pack - the book was originally titled "Guardian" but my editor and I agreed that Nightshade was a more evocative word that fit the story well, so the title changed. I like it much better so I'm really happy we made that switch! 

Wow ! Sounds awesome? Yeah, I can't wait to read this book too ! 

Coming Up Next, I have reviews on Evernight and Hourglass by Claudia Gray as well as an interview with the author herself ! Oops, not to mention another international giveaway ! Yep, you heard me right ! International !