Meeting Jennifer Lynn Barnes & Maggie Stiefvater + Giveaway!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED. Winner announced shortly.

Last night was such an awesome night!! Brits won team gold and individual silver in the eventing at WEG!! So awesome to watch, really wish I'd been there in person. But if I had been then I'd have missed earlier awesomeness of listening to and meeting Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Raised by Wolves) and Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver/Linger) at the Bath Children's Lit Fest! And that would have been very sad, so I'm not really disappointed to have not been in Kentucky yesterday ;)

Jen reading from Raised by Wolves

Maggie kicked things off by (in theory) answering questions such as why she chose werewolves, where her inspiration came from, things like that. But she's very good at dodging questions and never really gave a straight answer to them. Which was just fine because she was so hilarious going about it that it really didn't matter. I think the audience spent half the time she was talking, laughing.

Then Jennifer stepped up and spoke about the same things, only she gave real answers ;) Not to mention sharing a very amusing story about being attacked by/running away from a monkey she was studying a few years ago. She got away because she dropped the lemons she was holding at the time and the monkey decided they'd be nicer than her. *chuckles* And you'll just have to trust me when I say the story had relevance.

After that they both did a short reading, followed by a q & a, in which Maggie didn't dodge questions and both continued to show their sense of humor. It was a really awesome time. They were both so full of energy and passion for what they were talking about, not to mention very funny! Then there was the signing and they're both really lovely as well!! Jennifer signed a UK copy of Raised by Wolves so I could give it away here, as well as my personal US copy (she apparently hadn't seen the two next to each other before then, which I find oddly cool). And when Maggie asked me if I'd cried reading either Shiver or Linger I admitted no, not quite (I got pretty close towards the end of Linger, but I didn't actually cry). She was clearly disappointed with my answer:

Suffice to say it was a fantastic event, and I'm really hoping they both come back to the UK at a later date (preferably when I've managed to read both their backlists so I can give them lots more books to sign!).

Giveaway!

First off, big apologies for not being able to offer a signed copy of any of Maggie's books. I would have loved to be able to offer both, but couldn't afford more books :(

- Open to UK only - again, big apologies. I wish I could open this up internationally but right now I can't afford shipping outside the UK.
- To enter, fill out the form below. Only thing you must do is to leave a name and email address, but there are bonus entries you can gain as well.
- Closes Sunday 17th October midnight UK time.
- Winner will be picked via Random.org, announced on the blog and emailed, will then have 48 hours to reply before a new winner is picked.

Extra entries available as follows:
+2 for being a follower (old or new)
+1 for being a twitter follower (@cem_214)
+2 for tweeting about the giveaway (mention @cem_214 so I can keep track)
+5 for blog post about the giveaway

If you don't leave links for the extra entires, they won't count!

Early Contest Notice - extra entries!

So I kind of quietly mentioned in my post a few days ago that I'll be holding a contest when I reach 100 followers. I love that I seem to be gaining new followers pretty regularly now, and at 69 as I write this, it feels like 100 is close. Exciting! I really appriciate each of you stopping by, even if it's not daily :)

Why the early contest notice? Well, it's pretty simple, I'm hoping maybe those of you following me will help spread the word a little. Sooner I hit 100, sooner the contest gets held, sooner someone can win. And what can you win? Well, I'm not firm on my prize details yet, but I will at least be offering a $15 GC, either for Book Depository, or for your choice of bookseller as long as they let me buy it with £ as I'm in the UK.

Why help spread the word? Because anyone who is follower 100 or sooner, will be considered an 'old' follower and will get an extra +4 entries.

Leave a link in the comments of this post for anywhere you've spread the word (will only count once per place you share, so only one tweet will count but please share as much as you'd like ;)) and you'll get +2 entries for each different place.

The awesome Jess over at A Great Read is also planning a 100+ Followers contest as she's close to it as well. So we're teaming up a little, in that if you follow her as well before I reach 100 then you'll get another +2 entries for following her (leave a comment on this post telling me you're following her as well for it to count!). We've got similar tastes in books and I love seeing her takes on the books I've read as well, so if you like my content, you should enjoy her's as well! Interested in getting in on her contest as well? See her post here for details. Read it carefully because her details/extra entries requirements are a little different to mine.

So if you're interested in winning a GC for some extra books and want better chances, then please follow me, Jess and help spread the word. It would be massively appriciated.

Contest! £15 @ Book Depository

 CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!!! Winner will be announced shortly...

Running a new contest for the Summer! One winner and prize is £15 GC for Book Depository to spend on which ever book (or books) you want. Open Internationally as long as BD ships to you. Check this list here to see if you're eligible. If your country isn't on the list, then I'm sorry but you can't enter this one. Contest is open until Friday 27th August midnight British Summer time. Will announce the winner on the 28th and contact them. Winner will have 3 days to contact me or a new winner will be picked.

What do you have to do to enter? Only thing you must do is fill out your name/email address in the form and total your entries (if you don't do any of the extras, then you'll just need to enter 1 for it). There are options for extra entries as follows:

Blog follower (old or new) + 3 entries
Twitter follower (@cem_214) +1 entry
Tweet about the contest + 2 entries
Mention the contest somewhere on your blog +3 entries

And the automatic one for your name/email means a possible total of 10 entries.

One form per person, and while tweeting the contest more than once would be welcome, only once will count! Don't need to comment to enter, but if you want to leave a comment to know if you've entered or not, thats fine.

First Contest! - Spirit Bound! EDITED

Contest now CLOSED.

For the first time, I've decided to hold a contest here on my blog, and I figure what better book to start with than the upcoming release from one of my favourite series ever! The prize will be a UK copy of Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead.

EDIT: I've managed to get ahold of a stock signed UK version of Shadow Kiss (the 3rd Vampire Academy book). As I already have 2 signed copies of ShadowKiss, I'm giving this one away! So the prize for winning is now a signed UK copy of Shadow Kiss and a unsigned UK copy of Spirit Bound :)

Entering is simple, just leave a comment here on this post! One comment per person. Is open internationally :)
Already being a follower gives you +2 entries
New follower +1 entry.

Contest closes May 18th at midnight BST (British summer time). I'm not sure what times that makes it for various other time zones, but the internet is a helpful place ;)

I will name the winner May 19th (will be selected by random number generater) and they'll have 3 days to contact me with their details or another winner will be picked.

Spirit Bound by Richelle Mead the 5th book in the Vampire Academy series:

"Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong…

After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s—and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and he's out there, somewhere.

She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and she knows in her heart that he is hunting her. And if Rose won't join him, he won't rest until he's silenced her...forever"