Teaser Tuesday: Shades of Blood

Shades of Blood (Warriors of Ankh #3)
Release Date: December 12th 2011

Teaser...

" “For the love of gods!” Noah snapped as she slid inside. She tried to slam the door shut but his arm shot through the gap before it closed and he shoved it back open with little effort. He glared at her, his eyes a dark amethyst. “What are you, five?!”

“Get out.” She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes boring into him with flat disdain. Her hope that he would get the message deflated as he brushed past her, kicking the door shut with his heel.

“No,” he growled back at her. She felt the hair rise on her nape and a shudder of warning ripple down her spine. Eden carefully turned to look up at him. Noah was mad.

Noah never got mad. "

Sam x

Cover Reveal: Book Two in the Fire Spirits Series

Hey guys!

Well, my next release is, as I'm sure most of you guessed, book two in the Fire Spirits series. Book Two is titled 'Scorched Skies' and will be released February 21st 2012. I'm going to be adding a countdown widget to my sidebar so look out for that, and I'm also going to be updating the Fire Spirits blog asap. I'm in love with the series and having an absolute ball writing it. It's looking to be the biggest of my series' so far but I won't give a definite number on how many books just yet because sometimes chapter summaries can be longer or shorter than you think they'll be when you set out to write them. So yup... I'm rambling... anyhoo... the lovely and talented and awesomesauce Claudia at Phatpuppy Art (Digital artist extraordinaire!) has designed the 'Scorched Skies' book cover for me (if you remember she's also the genius behind the 'Smokeless Fire' cover art).
I am absolutely in love with this cover art!!!!!!!

So without further ado... what do you think??

FEAR THE HEAT…

The White King has crossed the line, sounded the horn, sent out the wolves.

When blood is shed and life is lost the reality of Ari’s position as both hunter and prey finally sets in. It seems her father will stop at nothing to force her will to his own and distracted by Charlie’s latest mistake and her seemingly misguided attraction to Jai, Ari never thought to fear anyone else but the Jinn King.

Blindsided and attacked, Ari learns a new wolf has joined the hunt. A dark sorcerer believes he knows a way to bleed the power of the Seal and wield it as his own, and he is even less patient than The White King.

The War for the Seal has only just begun… and it’s time for Ari to turn it on its head.

It’s time for Ari to stop acting like the hunted.

It’s time for Ari to become the hunter.

Coming March 16th 2012

Sam x

Yummy Hardbacks & Ebooks

Bought lots of nice books lately... check 'em out...









HARDBACKS

Ashfall by Mike Mullin

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

The Pledge by Kimberly Derting

The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff


KINDLE BOOKS

Sacred Bloodlines by Wendy Owens

XVI by Julia Karr

Firespell by Chloe Neill

Tamar by Mal Peet

Dark Inside by Jeyn Roberts

Bound by Kira Saito

Suspense by Jason Letts

Solstice by P.J. Hoover

The Deepest Cut by J.A. Templeton

Love is Darkness by Caroline Hanson



Sam x

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Today's book recommendation is an adult dystopian/ paranormal novel I've had sitting on my bookshelf for a while now. Could kick myself for not picking it up sooner. It's awesome...

Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts #1)
by Stacia Kane

amazon - paperback £6.39

Description (taken from goodreads)

THE DEPARTED HAVE ARRIVED.

The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased.

Consequently, there are many false claims of hauntings from those hoping to profit. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully-tattooed witch, freewheeling Debunker, and ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for nailing human liars and banishing the wicked dead. But she’s keeping a dark secret from the Church: a little drug problem that’s landed her in hot and dangerous water.

Chess owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump. And Bump wants immediate payback. All Chess has to do is dispatch a very nasty species of undead from an old airport. But the job involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and crossing swords with enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it.

My Thoughts

Stacia Kane’s Unholy Ghosts was truly a step in a different direction from other adult urban fantasy books, and that’s something that’s very hard to do in that genre – or at least difficult to find. From the drug-abusing protagonist, to the scarred and terrifying hero, Terrible, Unholy Ghosts has its own attitude and one I’m completely taken with. I loved the worldbuilding and the premise – this is dystopian meets paranormal. Love it. Everything about the novel is raw and unapologetic, from the street language, to the vile things the heroine, Chess, stumbles upon, to the peeled back chemistry between Chess and Terrible. Chess’ history is not a pretty one and neither is her present, but her colorful attitude, the easy, smooth prose, the vivid characters and the suspenseful plot make this a charged and exciting read. Happy to add it to my favourites pile and am moving swiftly on to book 2!

Five massive massive stars!


Sam x

Teaser Tuesday: Shades of Blood

Shades of Blood (Warriors of Ankh #3)
Out December 12th 2011

Teaser...

 OK, enough was enough. “Are you going to be a little bitch for the rest of our lives or do you think you actually might forgive me at some point?” she snapped. She had apologized a million times for what happened to Mhairi. Tobe knew how much she’d cared about the old woman. Why was she punishing her for this?!

Tobe drew to a stop, her features tight with anger. She swiped at her sweaty forehead. “Excuse me?” she asked, her accent seeming more pronounced with her anger. “ ae’ you talkin’ tae me?”

Yeah… way more pronounced.

“No, Mr. DeNiro, I’m talking to my friend Tobe,” Eden cracked.

Tobe grimaced at her lame Taxi Driver joke. “We’re not friends.”

“Yeah we are.”

“Naw, we’re not.”

“Yeah, we are. Or we will be once you forgive me.” She pleaded with her eyes. “I don’t like making myself vulnerable to people, Tobe. Surely my sitting here begging you like a virgin quarterback on prom night means something to you.”

“Now that was just disturbing.”

Sam x

Giveaway Winners!

Hey folks,

It's time to announce the winners of my 40k sales celebratory giveaway I posted in September. I know I promised a vlog where I would pull winners out of a hat (quite literally) but 90 of you wonderful folks entered so I would have been there forever cutting up names into little squares, so I did it the modern way and went with random.org. So without further ado...


The Winner, who will be receiving a signed copy of Smokeless Fire, Slumber and Drip Drop Teardrop is...

DAWN STOTTS!

Congrats Dawn!

The two runners up who will receive a paperback copy of Smokeless Fire sent directly to them via amazon are...

FELICIA HOLSCHER

and

CHANTEL LAW

Congrats guys!

I've emailed the winners and they have 48 hours to respond before I pick new winners.

As for the question I asked you guys (If you could wish for a book crush to be brought to life, who would you wish for?) I got some really interesting answers. My favourite answer was Fred Weasley from the Harry Potter novels. Aww that was genius.

Anyhoo I'm just listing those who received 3 votes or more. I don't know if you guys were sucking up to me or what but... I like it :-p

Lucien Lider (Tale of Lunarmorte by... Moi)  - 15 votes

Noah Valois (Warriors of Ankh by... Moi) - 6 votes

Wolfe Stovia (Chronicles of the Fade by... Moi) - 6 votes

Jace Wayland (The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare) - 5 votes

Dimitri Belikov (Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead) - 5 votes

Prince Ash (The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa) - 5 votes

Ryder Alexander (Tale of Lunarmorte by... Moi) - 5 votes

Jericho Z Barrons (Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning) - 4 votes

Etienne St. Clair (Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins) - 3 votes

Ren Can'trememberhissurname (Nightshade by Andrea Cremer) - 3 votes


Well guys I love all your choices and have book crushes on all of them. One of you lovely folks asked me on the giveaway form who my ultimate book crush is. Well... it is indeed the rather hot, scary, wonderful, deliciousness that is Jericho Z Barrons (a.k.a Barrons) from Karen Marie Moning's fantabulous awesomerocks with socks on top Fever Series. Yum.

Thanks to everyone for entering the giveaway and sharing your book crushes. There were a few crushes on there I was happy to see even if they were only mentioned once or twice. Oh and Jai from Fire Spirits got two votes which made me very happy :-)


Cheers!

Sam x

The Chicagoland Vampires by Chloe Neill

The Chicagoland Vampires

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.

Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan "Lord o’ the Manor" Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude—and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.

This week I'm recommending not one book but an entire series - The Chicagoland Vampires series by Chloe Neill. I'm a huge fan of adult urban fantasy and thought I'd take some time to try out Chloe Neill's very popular series. Well, I started it at the beginning of the week and am now on book 5 Drink Deep. I'm already chomping at the bit for book 6 which releases august 2012 and I haven't even finished. If you're a fan of Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Rachel Vincent, Karen Marie Moning, Rachel Caine, Richelle Mead and all their adult urban fantasy series' then you'll LOVE Chloe Neill. The heroine, Merit, is a phenomenal character. She's HI-LARIOUS, sarky, goofy-funny, powerful, loyal, brave, strong, totally kick-ass, intelligent and independent. She's awesome! In fact, even though I'm big fan of all the above mentioned authors' heroines, I have to say Merit is a close second to my favourite heroine, Mac, from Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. I've enjoyed spending the week in Merit's world of the supernatural, where there has been plenty of action, suspense, political intrigue, plot twists, tragedy, fantastic humour and a tense, sizzling romantic subplot. I don't want it to end! Seriously guys, if you haven't already, I highly recommend you check this series out.


Five Mega awesome Stars!




Sam x

Fantasy Cast Pick Overhaul - Warriors of Ankh

The cast overhaul has nothing to do with the previous selection for my fantasy cast picks for Eden and Noah from the Warriors of Ankh series being sucky. It's just that I found someone who is exactly as I imagined Noah and then when I thought about it I realized that Eden wasn't quite right either. So... here's my new picks...

Chris Zylka as Noah Valois. He has Noah's blonde good looks with that slightly surfer-ishness that I always imagined Noah to have (even though Noah can't surf for sh..shhhh). Chris is currently playing Jake Armstrong in the tv series The Secret Circle. He's hot!

Elizabeth Gillies as Eden Winslow (MacDouglas).
I haven't actually seen her acting chops but there's something about this picture of Zoey that reminds me of Eden. I changed her eye colour but other than that she seems to have Eden's attitude (from the pic anyhoo).























Sam x

Scottish quoteoftheday - "Never trust a man who when left alone with a tea cosy... doesn't try it on." - Billy Connolly

Sister Samurai

I was out Christmas shopping today and I ended up also buying myself a little present. I saw this canvas and immediately pictured it in my new home (I'm moving into a new place next year but haven't found said place yet... however, am already designing it all in my head). It sooo  reminds me of Eden and her katana. Love it.

Quote of the Day - "If my doctor told me I only had six minutes to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." Isaac Asimov

Sam x

Teaser Tuesday - Shades of Blood

TEASER TUESDAY

Shades of Blood (Warriors of Ankh #3)
Release Date December 12th 2011

"Horror shot through her, absolute and clear, pushing her back up the roof. Slates slid under her feet determined to take her down with them, but the sight of a blue smoke-like property drawing out of *BLEEP* and into the soul eater drove her on. She sprung forward like a cat, gripping the sides of the window to hold her upper body up as she swung her legs inwards, broken glass slicing through her jeans. She didn’t even feel it. But she did feel the vibration of her feet hitting the soul eater hard enough to knock him flying, and hard enough to rattle her teeth."

Sam x

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor

Daugher of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1)
By Laini Taylor

amazon.com - Hardback $11.20

Book Description (taken from goodreads)

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages--not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers--beautiful, haunted Akiva--fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself.

My Review
**********Off the Charts Mindblowingly Awesome

There are some stories that are truly special; the kind of stories that bury their way inside, claw at the chest and tug at the gut. They make you forget the world around you and for a while you disappear into another place, another time, another life.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a very special novel.

Karou drew me in from the first glitter of her thoughts. She’s an incredibly enigmatic, funny, young, wise, vulnerable, strong, beautiful paradox of a heroine and I utterly love her. Karou’s world is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been before, from the gothic, creative and atmospheric streets of Prague to the warm, bizarre and frighteningly wonderful shop of horrors where her family of Chimaera stay. Each character, from the human Zuzanna and Kaz, to the brisk, compelling Brimstone, and the darkly stunning Akiva, is exquisitely drawn. Taylor’s realm of the fantastical is brought to life through the well-rounded characterization, and indeed her untouchable imagination. I could lavish praise upon praise on Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and write screeds and screeds about her gorgeous prose, EPIC and truly unique tale of war, the lush and heartbreaking romance that could give fiction’s greatest love stories a run for their money, and about how every time I sat down to crack open the pages I knew my breath would be kidnapped a time or two and knew a feeling of complete contentedness awaited me.

But I won’t.

Instead I highly recommend you find out for yourself just how extraordinary Laini Taylor’s world is.

I’m in love with Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Really and truly in love.

One of my favourite reads EVER, never mind of 2011.

Ten Explosive Stars!

Sam x

Shades of Blood (WOA #3) - The Book Trailer

Here it is folks. I've been hard at work putting together a book trailer for Shades of Blood, the final installment in the Warriors of Ankh trilogy. I went for simple on this one, hoping simple is effective in this case. Fingers crossed you like it...

 

Sam x

Flat-Out Love by Jessica Park

Another book recommendation for you lovely people...

Flat-Out Love
by Jessica Park

amazon - Kindle £2.84

Book Description (Taken from Goodreads)

Flat-Out Love is a warm and witty novel of family love and dysfunction, deep heartache and raw vulnerability, with a bit of mystery and one whopping, knock-you-to-your-knees romance.

Something is seriously off in the Watkins home. And Julie Seagle, college freshman, small-town Ohio transplant, and the newest resident of this Boston house, is determined to get to the bottom of it.

When Julie's off-campus housing falls through, her mother's old college roommate, Erin Watkins, invites her to move in. The parents, Erin and Roger, are welcoming, but emotionally distant and academically driven to eccentric extremes. The middle child, Matt, is an MIT tech geek with a sweet side ... and the social skills of a spool of USB cable. The youngest, Celeste, is a frighteningly bright but freakishly fastidious 13-year-old who hauls around a life-sized cardboard cutout of her oldest brother almost everywhere she goes.

And there's that oldest brother, Finn: funny, gorgeous, smart, sensitive, almost emotionally available. Geographically? Definitely unavailable. That's because Finn is traveling the world and surfacing only for random Facebook chats, e-mails, and status updates. Before long, through late-night exchanges of disembodied text, he begins to stir something tender and silly and maybe even a little bit sexy in Julie's suddenly lonesome soul.

To Julie, the emotionally scrambled members of the Watkins family add up to something that ... well ... doesn't quite add up. Not until she forces a buried secret to the surface, eliciting a dramatic confrontation that threatens to tear the fragile Watkins family apart, does she get her answer.



My Review
*****Brilliant Read

Flat-Out love is more than a love story between two people. Although there is romance, Jessica Park’s contemporary YA novel for me was more about the love of a family, and the lengths people will go to, to help the ones they love.

If you do work out the twist from the beginning of Flat-Out Love, I promise you it won’t detract from your enjoyment of the story. If you don’t work it out, then you’re in for a clever and heart-squeezing ride. The heroine Julie is a likeable college Freshman who descends on Boston (I always wanted to go to Boston, now I’m frickin’ antsy after Park’s wonderful descriptions) and a super intelligent family to turn their lives upside down. The best thing about Julie is her genuine likeability – she has a huge heart and an absolutely insane sense of humour that I loved. The Watkins family is really special too. Matt the MIT geek is funny and likeable and so sweetly protective of his little sister Celeste. As for Celeste and her cardboard copy of her big brother Finn she takes with her everywhere… oh holy hell she made me laugh. She’s cute, completely socially awkward and blunt in a way you can’t help but love.

My favourite thing about the entire book was probably the dialoguing. Suffice to say the banter is excellent. The IMs between Finn and Julie had me laughing out loud, they were so off the wall and my exact sense of humour (and actually reminiscent of the kinds of stuff me and my friends gibber nonsensically about in emails).

The writing itself is easy, modern prose that sweeps you through the book (I read it in one sitting) and catches you in the gut and in those laughter lines around the eye with its beautiful simplicity and poignant perception of a family in need.

Wonderful read. I highly recommend.

Five Massive Massive Stars!

Sam x

Cover Love: Significance by Shelly Crane

Shelly Crane is an awesomerocks fellow indie author and her Significance series is a wonderful amazon bestseller. If you haven't checked her books out you should do so... go on... yes... now :-p

Anyhoo, I was on a virtual stroll through amazon when I came across the new cover for Signifcance. The old cover was pretty in its simplicity but the new cover is just COOL. It's really eyecatching and well... lush :-)

Significance (Significance #1)
by Shelly Crane

Maggie is a seventeen year old girl who's had a bad year. Her mom left, her dad is depressed, she's graduating, barely, and her boyfriend of almost three years dumped her for a college football schalorship. Lately she thinks life is all about hanging on by a thread and is gripping tight with everything she has. Then she meets Caleb. She saves his life and instantly knows there's something about him that's intriguing but she is supposed to be on her way to a date with his cousin. But things change when they touch, sparks ignite. Literally. They imprint with each other and she sees their future life together flash before her eyes. She learns that not only is she his soul mate, and can feel his heartbeat in her chest, but there is a whole other world of people with gifts and abilities that she never knew existed. She herself is experiencing supernatural changes unlike anything she's ever felt before and she needs the touch of his skin to survive. Now, not only has her dad come out of his depression to be a father again, and a pain as well, but Caleb's enemies know he's imprinted and are after Maggie to stop them both from gaining their abilities and take her from him. Can Caleb save her or will they be forced to live without each other after just finding one another?




Sam x

Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

My book recommendation this week has been around for a while but for those of you who haven't checked it out (are there any of you left??) here's my review...

Perfect Chemistry (Perfect Chemistry #1)
by Simone Elkeles

amazon -  paperback £4.12

Description (taken from Goodreads)

When Brittany Ellis walks into chemistry class on the first day of senior year, she has no clue that her carefully created “perfect” life is about to unravel before her eyes. She’s forced to be lab partners with Alex Fuentes, a gang member from the other side of town, and he is about to threaten everything she's worked so hard for—her flawless reputation, her relationship with her boyfriend, and the secret that her home life is anything but perfect. Alex is a bad boy and he knows it. So when he makes a bet with his friends to lure Brittany into his life, he thinks nothing of it. But soon Alex realizes Brittany is a real person with real problems, and suddenly the bet he made in arrogance turns into something much more.  In a passionate story about looking beneath the surface, Simone Elkeles breaks through the stereotypes and barriers that threaten to keep Brittany and Alex apart.



My Review
*****Awesome Read

I read Perfect Chemistry a while back and decided to re-read it after buying the second and third companion novels. I think I may have loved it even more the second time around.

Simone Elkeles writes real YA. Like Jennifer Echols, Jenny Downham and Tabitha Suzuma, Elkeles dives into the teen psyche and delivers a novel where teens talk, act, and think like real teens. And just to make her books gosh darn perfect she even gives them real problems too! There’s always a fear when reading a blurb like Perfect Chemistry that you’re going to lead your imagination into a bad racial divide novel that cheesifies very real and difficult issues. I am so happy to say that this is not the case.

Take the heroine, Brittany – she’s pretty, she’s blonde, she’s rich, she’s popular, she’s captain of the Pom Squad and she dates the hottest guy in school. But behind that glossy façade she has oh so carefully created, is a teenager that’s a carer (cleaning, changing, feeding and all) for her twenty year old sister, Shelley, who has Cerebral Palsy. On top of that she has a neurotic, OCD mother who suffered from a nervous breakdown a year ago, and a father who treats their home more like a hotel than anything else. Real teen with real issues – tick!

Take our hero, Alex – he’s yummy, he’s dangerous, he carries a Glock, rides a motorcycle and is a member of criminal gang, the Latino Bloods. But behind that terrifying persona he has oh so carefully crafted, is a teenager who loves his family, who would do anything to protect his family (after all he has been ‘man of the house’ since his father was shot dead in front of him at age six)… even joining a gang he hates… Alex is also intelligent, longs for respectability, is loyal and scared. The gang issues brought up are not glorified or brushed over or devoid of any tragedy. In fact the gang subplot provides a great dose of suspense to the overall story. Real teen with real issues – tick!

There is some curse words in Perfect Chemistry but I really feel the book would have been pretty silly if the gang members walked around minding their p’s and q’s all the time. I loved how the teenagers thought and acted like actual teenagers, even if that means the novel is more appropriate for older teen readers. I just don’t think the story would have worked nearly so well, or felt as authentic, if Elkeles had cleaned up the language etc. That’s not to say the language is overly graphic – in fact the author does a wonderful job of finding the perfect balance.

Outside of the hero and heroine’s individual problems, Perfect Chemistry is of course a love story. And boy is it a good one. The chemistry is sizzling, the romance well-developed and well-written, and the dialogue between Brittany and Alex absolutely fantastic.

Loved, Loved, Loved.

Five Massive, Massive Stars!



Sam x

Cover Art: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I'm a cover w****. It's true. If I see cover art I absolutely love it almost guarantees that I'll buy the book. I can't help it. I love beautiful books. And it seems traditional publishers are in competition with one another to come up with the most spectacular book cover art because over the last two years some of the designs have been awesome, and upcoming designs such as these...

Everneath by Brodi Ashton (2012 release) & The Selection by Kiera Cass (2012 release)

...suggest we have a lot more to look forward to from the publishing companies design houses. One of the cool things about trad publishing is the difference in cover art between countries. The truth is cover art that I love... you may hate. And vice versa, so trad publishers offer up different version per country (sometimes different versions within one country i.e. Divergent by Veronica Roth). This is great, because where one cover might not catch your eye, the other might.

Here are some covers that have caught my eye this year. Which do you like best? The US cover or the UK cover?

                                            US COVER                                     UK COVER

Divergent by Veronica Roth.  Although the US cover is the one currently on offer in the UK, the pink paperback will be hitting UK stores soon in February 2012. I own the current version and to be honest with you I actually like both covers. The US cover uses a similar design to the US Hunger Games covers, cleverly targeting those fans, but the UK cover has something more human about it - although I think they were right in keeping Tris in the shadows so we can imagine her for ourselves rather than having a cover model make up our minds for us.

                                             US COVER                                  UK COVER

Last Breath (Morganville Vampires #11) by Rachel Caine. I own all the Morganville Vampire books and have to say I'm a huge fan of the UK designs. You can't tell in the pic above but the typography is always in this eyecatching metallic and the cover models are all really different and gothic. Love them! Not so much a fan of the US covers. They wouldn't grab my eye in the bookstore.

                                             US COVER                                UK COVER

Abandon by Meg Cabot. I must have seen Abandon on a million blogs running up to its release and every time I glanced over it with very little interest. But I was in a bookstore a while back and that beautiful and very cool UK cover completely caught my eye. I picked it up, took the time to read the blurb, and decided I had to have it. Haven't read it yet, but it's on my reading pile -  a place it never would have been if not for that UK cover.

                                                US COVER                                  UK COVER

My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers #1) by Rachel Vincent. I have all of the Soul Screamers books and have yet to start the series, although I'm seriously looking forward to picking it up. Again I think both covers are really pretty and so different from one another, but I happened to have book five shipped over from the US because it's not out here in the UK and having them sit side by side shoved me more in one direction - I feel the US covers are more appealing and just... well... lush. Thinking about replacing my collection with the US ones some time in the future. Told you... cover w****

                                             US COVER                                 UK COVER

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. As soon as I heard about this book I knew I had to have it, but when I hopped on over to amazon to purchase it I was so disappointed by the UK cover when the US cover is kick-ass! So yup... I had the beautiful US cover shipped over to me instead. It's on the top of my reading pile. Can't wait to read it!

                                            US COVER                              UK COVER

Dearly Departed by Lia Habel. This book about zombies appealed to me when I first heard about it, and I fell in love with the US cover. Again, however, when I went to purchase it on amazon the UK cover was... a surprise to say the least. To be honest, the more I look at it, the more it grows on me, there's something kind of deliberately silly about it that appeals to me. BUT I just love that US cover. I had it shipped over and it's sitting on top of my reading pile.

For me cover art is really important and that's why I try to come up with something aesthetically pleasing, eyecatching and different for my own novels. For the most part my cover art is something I put together myself using non-copyright images and Photoshop. But two of my covers - Slumber and Smokeless Fire - are designed by Claudia McKinney of the fantabulous Phatpuppy Art.

I wonder if cover art is as important to you guys as it is to moi (I'm a magpie I swear! I love all things shiny and pretty!)

Sam x



Shades of Blood Update

Hi guys :-)

Check out the release date and book description for Shades of Blood (Warriors of Ankh #3) the final installment in the Warriors of Ankh trilogy.

SHADES OF BLOOD (WOA #3)
Coming December 12th 2011!!

Description

Eden’s life has taken a turn she would never have imagined. She’s gone from soul eater to warrior, left behind a family she was ashamed of and moved in with one she admires. She has a purpose, a future, and… she has Noah.

Life should be good.

But… the most fervent and powerful soul eaters are determined to take down the Ankh and Eden is the key to the destruction of the warrior race.

Moreover, a shadowed enemy is still after Eden, and the mortal Warriors of Neith have chosen the worst time imaginable to start an uprising.

With an enemy in every corner, the problems before her are overwhelming. Then again, Eden hasn’t come this far to let anyone snatch her new life from her…

However, just when Eden thought she’d battled the monster within and won, the warrior who took something precious from her comes back into her life, tempting Eden to take a course of revenge there is no turning back from.

Vengeance is such a bitch…

… So is Eden when the stakes are high.

A YA Paranormal Romance recommended for ages 16 and up.

You can grab the countdown widget for your blog from the sidebar ----->


Cheers!

Sam x