Saturday, June 30, 2012

...in pictures

Next week's topic is:
Green / Grün
Please link you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 29th of June and the 7th of July .
(11:59 pm CET)

I would like to ask you all if you have any ideas for topics for the following months. I am sure that each and every one of us has this one (or more) topic she wants to see transfered into a picture by us all. It would be great if you would leave me a comment and tell me your favorite topic so that I can include them in our Photochallenge!

Friday, June 29, 2012

...in books

TGIF is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing Ginger at GReads!
This week she wants to know:
Best I've Read So Far: 
We're half way through the year (crazy how time flies!), 
which top 3 books are the best you've read so far this year?
 
That the first six months of this year are over already hit me today when I thought that my summer holidays will start on Monday. Crazy how time flies!

The best three books I read during these six months are:
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
 Blameless by Gail Carriger
Joy for Beginners by Erica Bauermeister 
!The Year of the Unexpected is the Australian title!

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

... in pictures

I was in Edinburgh, Scottland from Wednesday the 13th to Sunday the 17th of June.
Here are some impressions:



Palace of Holyroodhouse
Palace of Holyroodhouse
Palace of Holyroodhouse

court yard at the Palace of Holyroodhouse

ruins of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse
ruins of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse
ruins of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse
ruins of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse
ruins of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse
ruins of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse
ruins of the Abbey at Holyroodhouse


typically Scottish - bag pipes


Edinburgh Castle on an extremly foggy day
at Edinburgh Castle
at Edinburgh Castle
at Edinburgh Castle
enjoying the "view" from Edinburgh Castle

 
foggy day

graveyard in the middle of town

squirrel in a litter box
squirrel in a litter box

Sunday, June 24, 2012

...in books


Showcase Sunday is weekly meme hosted by Vicky at Books, Biscuits & Tea which was inspired by In My Mailbox from Kristie at The Story Siren.
It is a possibility for us to show what amazing books we got during the week.

After last week’s ultimate book shopping (see last week’s Showcase Monday here) I had a relatively slow week in books.

On Friday I went to my local bookstore(chain) to get a book for my mum and (un)fortunately I bought Cassandra Clare’s City of Lost Souls for me. 



I also bought some e-books this week:

 The Beach Café by Lucy Diamond

The Saturday Supper Club by Amy Bratley

Friday, June 22, 2012

... in pictures

This week's topic was 
Food



Next week's topic is:
Square / Quadrat(isch)

Please link you post to mine in time.
Submission period is between the 22nd and the 30th of June.
(11:59 pm CET)

I would like to ask you all if you have any ideas for topics for the following months. I am sure that each and every one of us has this one (or more) topic she wants to see transfered into a picture by us all. It would be great if you would leave me a comment and tell me your favorite topic so that I can include them in our Photochallenge!

... in books

TGIF is a weekly meme hosted by the amazing Ginger at GReads!
This week Ginger has an amazing question (as always).
Authors Are Our Celebrities: 
Have you ever contacted an author you admired? How did that experience go?  
If not, which author would you love to have a chat with? 

Yes, I have contacted authors and I love these interactions. I started contacting authors long before I started blogging. My mum publishes a bimonthly Patchwork magazine here in Austria and so I experienced kind of first hand that people mostly e-mail or phone you when they want to complain about something and that she treasured those times when someone called her to compliment her work. 

This is why I decided to write e-mails to authors whose books I love and to tell them that they did a great job entertaining me. The first author I contacted was Jack Sheffield who writes a series about a head teacher in a small school in the Yorkshire Dales – kind of autobiographic. He answered immediately and told me how much her loved my mail and that receiving encouraging mails is just plain awesome. 

After this I contacted authors just to give them feedback or to tell them how much I love their work and I want to believe that they smile when reading my mail. Since I joined Twitter interacting with authors got much easier and I chatted with more brilliant authors, like Amy Plum or Ali McNamara.

I encourage you all to give more positive feedback – it makes people smile!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

...in books

Author: Michelle Madow


Michelle is the author of the wonderful novels Rembrance (read my review here) and Vengeance (read my review here) and she agreed to doing an author interview for my blog.

When was the first time you saw yourself as a writer?
I've always loved to write -- in second grade I was always "that kid" who would write twelve page long stories on free write journal day and then share them with my class! In high school I journaled a lot, and then I started writing fan-fiction in my freshman and sophomore years of college. Then in my junior year of college I signed up for Intro to Creative Writing. I'd always had lots of original ideas, but never knew how to share them with people (or if people would even be interested in reading my ideas), so I figured the class could be fun. For the first homework assignment I turned in the first chapter of Remembrance. My teacher and classmates loved it, so from there I decided to turn it into a book!


Timeless will be released at the end of this year, right? Do you have plans for any new books?
I've actually written two other books besides the Transcend Time Series, both which are starts of their own series. In March I signed with agent Molly Ker Hawn from The Bent Agency on my most recent book, a fun contemporary YA. I'm currently working really hard on editing that book, so it's looking like Timeless will be coming out sometime in 2013.


What is your favorite book/what are your favorite books and who is your most favorite author?
I have so many favorite books that it's hard to choose! Some of my all-time favorites are the Harry Potter series, Divergent, Twilight, the Gone Series, the Iron Fey series, and the Vampire Academy series. I just started reading The Selection and am loving it as well. My favorite author is J.K. Rowling -- what she created with the world of Harry Potter amazes me.


What would you have become if you hadn’t become an author?
I was in college while I was writing Remembrance, so I was trying to figure that out. I was considering going into editing or publicity for YA novels.


Can you describe your daily writing routine a bit?
It all depends on which stage I'm in! When I write a book I do character bios first, then outline the whole story, then first draft, then editing. When I'm actually writing the first draft, I usually write in the afternoon and try to write 1,500 words a day. I wish I could do more than that, but I tend to feel "juiced out" after reaching 1,500 words and need a break by then. I've heard of authors writing first drafts in two weeks or a month, which I think is amazing, but I could never work like that. I'm all about keeping a steady pace.


I love to drink coffee. Do you have a favorite?
I drink coffee black. I love the coffee drinks at Starbucks (particularly vanilla lattes), but I'm lactose intolerant, so I can only drink them if I remember to bring lactase enzymes with me -- and I usually forget to put them in my bag!

Thank you so much for interviewing me! 

For more information about Michelle visit her Homepage, super cool Blog, her Facebook and Twitter pages.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

... in books


Review
Vengeance
by Michelle Madow

The author:
Michelle Madow was inspired to write Remembrance after seeing Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video while a junior at Rollins College in Winter Park, FL. The song and video gave her the story idea about a high school girl reincarnated from Regency Era, England. She handed in the first chapter as a homework assignment for class, and when her teacher and fellow classmates wanted her to continue writing, she decided to go for it. By the end of the school year, her first novel was completed!
In the summer between Michelle's junior and senior years of college, she traveled to New York City to present her novel to literary agents at an event sponsored by Writer’s Digest. There she met AAR agent Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency, who signed her at the start of her senior year of college.
Along with the Transcend Time Saga, Michelle Madow has written two other young adult novels, both which will be developed into series’.
Michelle lives in Florida, where she is hard at work writing more novels for young adults.
source: Goodreads

First sentences:
“I’ll see you in school on Monday.”
 I hated the casual way Lizzie said those words.

Summary:
When Chelsea Givens discovered that her ex-boyfriend Drew dumped her to be with her former best friend Lizzie, she'd never felt so betrayed in her life. Then her new friend Shannon tells her she can help set things right. Chelsea's willing to listen, but what Shannon wants her to believe, that she shared a past life with Drew, is impossible. And what she wants her to do to get him back … well, it's downright crazy.
Could Shannon be telling the truth? And if she is, what lengths will Chelsea go if it means making Lizzie pay?
Find out in Vengeance, the second part of the Transcend Time Saga.

source: Goodreads

My opinion:
Vengeance is the short story that bridges the events in Remembrance and Timeless, the final novel in the Transcend Time Saga.
It is told from Chelsea’s point of view and starts right where Remembrance ended. Chelsea is hurt by Lizzie and Drew’s behaviour and blames her ex-best friend for the situation she is in. 

I don’t want to tell you anymore about the content of this short story due to massive spoiler alert!

The story is wonderfully told and tells the whole story from another point of view which adds a nice touch to the whole Saga. Chelsea’s actions are clearly explained and the characters well painted.

I like Michelle’s way of writing – it is really vivid and you can easily be lost in the story. I found it sad that Vengeance was just a short story because I would love to read more about Lizzie, Chelsea and Drew and I am really looking forward to reading Timeless.

Remembrance is the first novel in the Transcend Time Saga. Vengeance, the follow up short story is titled as Transcend Time #1.5 and is told from Chelsea’s point of view. The last book of the series will be published in 2013.

Vengeance is available at Amazon for $ 5,99 / EUR 4,98 / £ 3,73 and for your Kindle for $ 1,15 / EUR 0,89 / £0,72.

For more information about Michelle Madow visit her Blog, her Facebook or Twitter page.

...in books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish.
This week’s question is:
My Top Ten Books On The Summer TBR List!

I am so behind on reading wonderful books so I hope I will be able to read them all during my summer holidays. Here is what I would really like to read:

Reckless by Cornelia Funke

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

Moon over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris
 
 Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl