Mundie Moms

Friday, February 8, 2013

Exclusive Cover Reveal: THORNHILL A Hemlock Novel by Kathleen Peacock

Happy Friday! I am so excited about today's cover reveal for author Kathleen Peacock. Her debut, Hemlock was released last year, and ever since I read it I've been anxiously awaiting the release of it's sequel, Thornhill. Check out this STUNNING COVER!


I love the cover of Hemlock, but I think I might love Thornhill's cover just a little bit more. I'm such a sucker for trees and having some sort of out door element when it comes to wolf books. I LOVE, love, love this cover. I'm normally not a cover of seeing faces on covers, but this cover is fabulous! What do you guys think? 

About the Book:

By: Kathleen Peacock
Published by:  Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 
To Be Released on: September 9, 2013
Add it to GoodReads

Mac can’t lose another friend. Even if he doesn't want to be found.

The ripple effect caused by Mac’s best friend Amy’s murder has driven Mac’s new love, Kyle, to leave Hemlock and disappear from her life forever. But Mac knows that Kyle plans to enroll in a rehabilitation camp, where he can live with other werewolves. She refuses to accept his decision, especially since the camps are rumored to be tortuous. So she sets out in search of Kyle with a barely sober Jason—and Amy’s all-seeing ghost—in tow.

Clues lead Mac to find Kyle in a werewolf den in Colorado—but their reunion is cut short by a Tracker raid. Now Mac and Kyle are trapped inside the electric fences of Thornhill, a camp for young werewolves. As she devises an escape plan, Mac uncovers dangerous secrets buried within the walls of Thornhill—and realizes that the risk to the people she loves is greater than ever before.

About the Author:



Kathleen Peacock spent her teen years crushing on authors and writing short stories about vampires. She put her writing dreams on hold while attending college, but tripped over them when office life started leaving her with an allergy to cubicles. Her debut, HEMLOCK, is coming May 8th, 2012 from Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of Harper Collins, and will be published in the UK under the title DEADLY HEMLOCK from Simon and Schuster Children’s Books.

Follow Kathleen via her: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

The Giveaway:
Thank you to Kathleen and Harper Teen, one lucky winner will receive a SIGNED copy of Hemlock, and an ARC of Thornhill (once the arcs are available). To enter, please fill out the form below:

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Blog Tour: Etiquette & Espionage; Music / Modern Weaponries


Welcome to the next stop in Little Brown's Office Etiquette and Espionage Blog Tour! I'm thrilled to have author Gail Carriger on the blog today to talk about Music/Modern Weaponries.


Music/Modern Weaponries

Hi Gail! Welcome to Mundie Moms. If you could make yourself a clockwork weapon, what would it look like and what would it do?
I would like a holstered version of a crank heater that could boilwater in a mug, so I could have tea on the go!

We hear that dancing is a required skill for all Finishing School ladies. Which is the most challenging to master?
The waltz is very challenging because of the intimacy entailed, but every young lady struggles with the quadrille, particularly if she has to pass secret notes at the same time.

What is a memorable piece of music that either makes your heart skip a beat, or makes you think of a dashing young man?
“Cup of Brown Job” by Professor Elemental. It does both in the best possible way and for the most excellent reason.

What's your favorite weapon to practice with?
The pen, of course. Mightier as it may be...

In between all the lessons at school, what are the ladies’ most common leisure activity?
For these young ladies, spying on each other, the teachers, and the staff—not necessarily in that order.

Thank you Gail for visiting with us today! 

About the Book:


Published by: Little Brown
Released on: 2/5/2013
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Sophronia Temminnick at 14 is a great trial more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners -- and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Her poor mother, desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady, enrolls the lively tomboy in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But young ladies learn to finish...everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage -- in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

You can find out more about Etiquette and Espionage by stop by Little Brown's Finishing School page and by following the Official FINISHING SCHOOL Tumblr

Catch Gail LIVE! Gail is doing a LIVE AT THE LOUNGE author video chat with fans on February 12, 2013. Fans are encouraged to RSVP, sign-in and join the conversation on the day. Gail will be wearing a tea hat and encouraging fans to come with their very best millinery… and there may even be tea served. This is an unique chance for fans to interact with Gail and ask questions face-to-face.



The Giveaway: 
Thank you to Little Brown I have an Etiquette & Espionage prize pack to giveaway to one lucky blog tour follower. To enter, please fill out the form below.

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The Gathering Dark Blog Tour: Christine Johnson's Listening Playlist


I'm thrilled to be the next stop on my blog tour for Christine Johnson's The Gathering Dark! Today I've got Christine's playlist that Christine listened to while writing The Gathering Dark to share with you guys and a giveaway. First, here's a little bit about Christine's upcoming release:




By: Christine Johnson
Published by: Simon Teen
To Be Released on: February 12th, 2013
Purchase from: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Add it to GoodReads


A mysterious teen boy knows the secrets of Keira’s dangerous hallucinations in this gripping romantic fantasy from the author of Claire de Lune. Keira’s hallucinating. First it’s a door hovering above the road; then it’s a tree in her living room. But with her parents fighting and her best friend not speaking to her, Keira can’t tell anyone about her breakdown. Until she meets Walker. They have an electric connection, and somehow he can see the same shadowy images plaguing Keira. But trusting Walker may be more dangerous than Keira could have ever imagined. The more she confides in him, the more intense—and frightening—her visions become. Because Walker is not what he appears to be. And neither are her visions.






The Ten Songs I Listened to Most While Writing THE GATHERING DARK

10) Bach’s Goldberg Variations - Keira plays this later on in the book, and though I’d heard it before, I didn’t know it well enough to hear it in my head while I was writing that bit. I have a playlist of just the piano music that Keira plays in the book, and this was on it.
9) Rachmaninoff’s Prelude in C Sharp Major - I found this music by going to an extremely knowledgable friend of mine who also happens to be a professional cellist. I needed a piece of music with a very specific emotional feel, including a change from something sweet and low to something wildly passionate and nearly disordered. Asking someone to name a piece of classical music, written for piano, that does exactly that, but when my friend introduced me to this prelude, I knew it was perfect. 
8) Beethoven’s Piano Sonata no. 17, Op.31, No. 2 - I listened to dozens if not hundreds of pieces of music, polled musician friends, and generally worked my tail off to find the perfect piece of music to really define Keira all the way through THE GATHERING DARK. I wanted the music itself to echo her character arc and the feel of the novel. When I found this one, particularly a version recorded by Yuri Kim, I knew I had what I was looking for. It’s the piece of Keira’s music that I listened to the very most, and when hear it, it’s Keira’s hands I see on the piano.
7) The Cowboy Junkies’ “I Don’t Get It,” off The Trinity Sessions album - Though he’s not a musician, Walker had his own music, too. This was one of the songs I listened to when I needed to get down into that dark, slow, intense heat that Walker has. There are songs that burn the way he does, and this is definitely one of them.
6) Morphine’s “Potion,” off the album Like Swimming - If “I Don’t Get It” taps into Walker’s sound, then “Potion” embodies it. It’s dark and sexy and slow, and maybe just a little bit dangerous. Every. Single. Time. I wrote a kiss or near-kiss in this book, I listened to this song at least once. For one of the scenes, I put it on repeat. Shall I tell you what page that scene’s on?
5) Adele’s “I Found a Boy,” off the album 21 - So, not everything that happens in THE GATHERING DARK is easy for Keira and Walker (not really a spoiler.) As I began to write the last quarter of the book, I found that the album I’d been listening to most (no, it hasn’t appeared on this list. yet.) wasn’t working for me. There were two Adele songs that I listened to over and over, though sometimes I just listened to the entire second half of the 21 album, and that’s how I wrote most of the end of the book.
4) Adele’s “Someone Like You,” off the album 21 - Um, see above? This was the other main component of what I like to think of as THE GATHERING DARK’s “Adele Period.”
3) Deathcab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark,” off the album Plans - So, leading up to a really pivotal scene, even Adele wasn’t cutting it for Deep Emotional Times. I needed something more wrenching. (I know, right? I was SUPER FUN to be around during the drafting of this section.) Anyway, enter Death Cab and this quiet, aching song that I put on repeat and angsted to ad infinitum until I reached the point of no return.
2) Sarah MacLachlan’s “Ice Cream,” off the album Fumbling Towards Ecstasy - Okay, so somewhere past the point of no return, I had to write The Scene. Even Deathcab was not enough. Just let that sink in. Seriously. “Ice Cream” was not only on topic, but had that break-your-heart-and-then-grind-the-pieces-to-dust vibe that I needed. And I listened to it the entire time I wrote The Scene, and for the first time ever, I cried about my own writing and afterwards, I felt very accomplished and also maybe a little bit crazy. But happy about it. Yeah. Writing is weird like that. So - do you wanna know what page THAT scene is on?
1) The entirety of The Black Keys’ album, Brothers - Okay. A bit of a cheat, because it’s an album, and not a song. But you guys, THE GATHERING DARK is well over 400 pages, and the other songs account for about 30% of my listening time. The other 70% - and THAT’S A LOT OF HOURS, YO - I put on Brothers. I listened to it until I was sick to death of every song on there, but I still listened, because for whatever reason, that’s what made the words flow. If there’s one thing writers know, it’s that you don’t stop doing what works, as long as it’s working. If I’d had that album in any non-digital format, I would have worn it out. I’m not kidding. But if you want the same background noise while reading that I had writing? This album is your very. best. bet.

Happy Listening! 
**********


Thank you Christine to stopping by today and for sharing your listening playlist with us! 
Follow Christine via her: Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

The Giveaway: 
Thank you to Christine there are 6 different prize packs you can enter to win during the tour. 2 copies of The Gathering Dark, and 4 swag packs! To enter, all you'll need to is fill out the form featured below, which is also featured with each giveaway stop. Good luck!

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Blog Tour/ Trailer Reveal Tour: In The Shadows of Blackbirds by Cat Winters


Welcome to the trailer reveal tour for Cat Winters’s YA ghost tale, IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS (Amulet Books, April 2013). From February 7-13, seven sites will host seven challenges to find clues about the novel and its trailer. And on February 14, The Mod Podge Bookshelf will celebrate a deliciously dark Valentine’s Day by hosting the exclusive trailer reveal and giveaway!

ABOUT THE NOVEL:




In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.


YOUR CHALLENGE:

Mary Shelley Black’s first love, Stephen Embers, enjoys anagrams (phrases or words created by rearranging the letters of other phrases or words).

Unscramble the following anagram to learn today’s secret about IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS and/or the book’s trailer. Submit the word in the rafflecopter below, and you’ll be entered to win an advance reading copy of the novel, as well as a free download of the trailer’s music, “Under the Fate of the Blue Moon” by Jill Tracy. (Limited to U.S. and CANADA residents.)

TODAY’S CLUE:

Mary Shelley Black and Stephen Embers first meet as children in this Northwestern U.S. city. (Hint: It’s in Oregon.)

LORD PANT

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To learn more about In the Shadow of Blackbirds, visit http://www.blackbirdsnovel.com.

COMPLETE TRAILER REVEAL TOUR SCHEDULE:

Feb. 7: I Am a Reader, Not a Writer
Feb. 8: Mundie Moms
Feb. 9: IceyBooks
Feb. 10: Hobbitsies
Feb. 11: ReadingTeen
Feb. 12: BookHounds YA
Feb. 13: Girls in the Stacks
Feb. 14: The Mod Podge Bookshelf

TMI Movie News: #ShareMortalLove


The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (Mortal Movie on Twitter) announced yesterday that they're going to #ShareMortalLove the week leading up to Valentine's Day! That means they're going to start revealing NEW CHARACTER images on Twitter starting on Saturday at 5 pm EST!  PLEASE let MAGNUS be the first character! *crosses fingers* How exciting is this!?! I can not wait! 

Which character do you hope they reveal first? 

Who Is Marcus Finch? Clue #14



Welcome to Penguin Teen's Who is Marcus Finch? two week campgain! Over the next two week's myself and a handful of other fabulous blogs will be treating you to a daily quote/teaser, giving you clues into who Marcus is. Today's clue is:


Dying to get your hands on The Indigo Spell? Be sure here to by and read an excerpt from the book before it's out. Enter to win a copy of the book HERE


In the aftermath of a forbidden moment that rocked Sydney to her core, she finds herself struggling to draw the line between her Alchemist teachings and what her heart is urging her to do. Then she meets alluring, rebellious Marcus Finch--a former Alchemist who escaped against all odds, and is now on the run. Marcus wants to teach Sydney the secrets he claims the Alchemists are hiding from her. But as he pushes her to rebel against the people who raised her, Sydney finds that breaking free is harder than she thought. There is an old and mysterious magic rooted deeply within her. And as she searches for an evil magic user targeting powerful young witches, she realizes that her only hope is to embrace her magical blood--or else she might be next.

Populated with new faces as well as familiar ones, the Bloodlines series explores all the friendship, romance, battles, and betrayals that made the #1 New York Times bestselling Vampire Academy series so addictive—this time in a part-vampire, part-human setting where the stakes are even higher and everyone’s out for blood. -quoted from Goodreads

Be sure to check out the Bloodlines Website, and visit the Bloodlines Facebook page.

Cassie's Recent News/Posts


How cool is this?! Cassie posted yesterday that the TMI movie was featured in Entertainment Weekly! How awesome! Congrats to Cassie and the TMI movie crew!


More Shadowhunter Tarot Cards! We've all seen Will, but check out Jem's card!  I seriously hope Cassandra's card become aviable soon. I love these! Here's what Cassie said about the cards: More of Cassandra Jean’s Shadowhunter Tarot!   You can’t have one without the other, so Jem with his beloved violin takes the place of Temperance, and Will as the Hanged Man.




*SPOILERS* Clockwork Prince / Clockwork Princess Q&A via Cassie on Tumblr:
I just wanted to ask that what if Jem HADN’T proposed? Would Will have asked Tessa or would he still push her away? 
We know what Will would have done if Jem hadn’t proposed, because he did it.
(This is kind of fun, as CP2 nears I get to put my analyst hat back on and talk about what people were feeling in CP2 and why they did the things they did and how they feel about it.)
When he came to Tessa in the drawing-room in CP, he had no idea Jem had proposed. He didn’t try to push her away. Neither did he propose. He apologized for his bad behavior — which, whatever the impossible circumstances that prompted it and dictated that he could act no other way, was still bad behavior (drugs, crabbiness, moping, suggesting Tessa might be kind of a prostitute) — because he knows people’s feelings aren’t just faucets you can turn on and off. He can say, “Tessa, here are the reasons I acted the way I acted!” but she’ll need a little time to adjust to the idea and alter her view of him. He gets that; it’s reasonable.
He has no reason to keep pushing Tessa away and so he doesn’t. He’s happy and shy around her until he gets her alone, and then he just tells her the truth. The pure, unadulterated truth about why he behaved like he did, and what his feelings for her are, and what he is hoping for. He isn’t hoping to propose and be accepted because that’s like hoping to win the Olympic gold without ever having strapped on a pair of skis. He’s hoping she’ll understand what he’s saying and give him a chance, so he can properly, actually court her as the real Will.
Okay, he also kisses her, but Jeez, the poor guy, he hasn’t ever kissed anyone without HIS TERRIBLE SECRET looming over him, and we can’t always rein it all in.
Whether, if Jem had not proposed, and Will had said what he said, Will and Tessa would have entered into a mutually pleasing courtship that ended in marriage isn’t something we can know yet.
Dear C:
I wanted to ask you something…You know, I know ALL the girls love William, but I hate him a lot! You have no idea, and I just wanted to know if he will ever cry in the series? I really will be satisfied if he did so and I think it’ll be kinda’ of cute, but it was just a question… Will he? 
HAS THE POOR BOY NOT SUFFERED ENOUGH? :) Not everyone loves Will. Will’s difficult. He’s not much of a crier, either, being both a Victorian male and someone who’s spent a lot of time hiding what he’s feeling. Also, while I have no problem with characters crying, I think there’s a variety of ways to show grief and pain and crying is only one!

The Shadowhunters World: Free App


That's right TMI fans! We have our OWN APP! How awesome is that!?! The Shadowhunters World application was launched on Wednesday and you can get it for your iPhone here or your Android (coming soon). Both Sophie and I have downloaded and we LOVE that we now have the Shadowhunter World at our fingertips. 


Here's what you can gain access to via your finger tips:

Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters is the official app for the Shadowhunter community, the fans of author Cassandra Clare and her New York Times bestselling Infernal Devices and Mortal Instruments series. Keep up to date on the latest Cassandra Clare and Shadowhunter news and announcements in a complete mobile experience on your iPhone or Android phone.
FEATURES:
  • Exclusive Content: Enjoy sneak peeks and content from future books, only available in this App! (Currently featuring the prologue from Clockwork Princess!)
  • Keep up to date on all things Shadowhunter and Cassandra Clare related with Cassie's Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr feeds all in one convenient place
  • Watch the latest book trailers and Shadowhunter videos
  • Discover all of Cassandra Clare's past and future Shadowhunter books, read descriptions, and listen to audio excerpts
  • Count down the days until The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones hits theaters everywhere with the movie Facebook and Twitter feeds
  • Never miss out on any important upcoming Shadowhunter events and add them to your calendar right from the app
I seriously LOVE the created idea behind this. This is a MUST have for TMI/ID/TDA fans! Here's another reason why fans want this! Cassie said, "They’re going to be releasing a lot more cool stuff through the app like cut scenes, audio downloads, art, and lots more so get it if you can!"

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