artsy musings of a bibliophile

A Year of Blogging + Giveaway

November 13, 2012 by Sana

A year ago, at the crack of dawn, I created artsy musings of a bibliophile. I had been contemplating making one for a few weeks and then it just happened. I knew I wanted it to be in red color with specks of grey and black but I didn’t know the amount of hours I would spent perfecting and learning all the things about blog design. I knew Twitter is important in the blogging world, but I have found it to be a great social website to which I’m addicted.

I knew the top-notch bloggers but what I didn’t know was that the book blogging is a community far bigger than I deemed possible. From where I come from, readers of the books I like to read are few and far between. So to have tons of other bloggers to swoon over and discuss books with right from the comforts of my bedroom is utter happiness.

It’s hard to believe that I have spent 365 days blogging my heart out. There have been days when I missed it, when school and work made it hard for me to focus on books and keeping in touch with blogger friends. But I have gone at my pace and I know the journey is far from over. It started with a review of Five Flavors of Dumb by Antony John and with the Blogoversary post gone live, I am thankful that I decided to blog about books.

Here’s to another year filled with awesome books, pretty covers, tweets about books, blog tours, authors and publishers love and my latest favorite genre, new adult.

Happy Bibliophilic Musings!

As a thank you to blogger friends, followers, authors, publishers and new followers, I give you all each a virtual hug and an international giveaway. If it’s not cake, it’s books. Rules are in the widget.

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P.S. If you’d like to know more about me and my blog, hop over to Amelia’s blog, The Authoress.

Interview: Eileen from Singing and Reading in the Rain

October 15, 2012 by Sana

Hey, everyone!

I’m very happy to kick off the Eileen’s Blogoversary Tour! She blogs over at Singing and Reading in the Rain. I haven’t known Eileen for a long time, but from all the Twitter chats we did she’s an amazing person. She sings so well, she reads and her blog rocks. She’s one of my inspirations when it comes to blogging and she’s so active on Twitter. One of the best people I know! =D

So, I wish you a

The Interview

Before I begin this interview, I’d like to mention a few things. I wanted to incorporate music as well as books when it came to interviewing Eileen since her blog is like that. So every song that I’ve included in the questions are either rated 5 stars by Eileen or she has reviewed them on her blog (they’re click-able, too!).

I’ve tried to make it one of a kind interview for a one of a kind book blogger so do comment on how I’ve fared ya’ll!

Q1. A one of a kind book blogger with a dream of making it into the music industry. These are the words that I’ll use to describe you. Want to add anything to it?

Ooh I LIKE THAT! 😀 Can I use that for my “About Me” from now on? I TOTALLY CALL USING IT!

Q2. For a bookworm, reading is a form of escapism. So what book do you always fall back on to Give Your Heart a Break?

The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa definitely; they’re always my guilty pleasures.

Q3. What book wants you to Set Fire to the Rain? Figuratively, that is.

Hmmm…if we’re talking about a really bad book that makes me go completely Godzilla, it would have to be House of Night by PC and Kristin Cast. Seriously. Before I completely rant about the idiocy of it, I’ll just stop typing.

Q4. What genre gets you thinking it’s Bad For Me but you still gotta read it.

I think of contemporary because most of the contemporary books I read I absolutely HATE but I still have to read them because the covers are always look pretty. 😀

Q5. Stop reading when tired or wait till the chapter ends?

Definitely when the chapter ends! You don’t stop listening to a song you really like halfway through right?

Q6. A fun question: What is the title of one of your absolute favorite song and what characters would you want to star in the book titled so?

ENCHANTED BY TAYLOR SWIFT! 😀 That was my first Taylor Swift song that probably really resonated within me and jumpstarted my dream of becoming a singer. And there actually is a book called Enchanted made up of a bunch of short stories. I believe. But if there was an actual book called Enchanted, it would probably be a fantasy book or a historical romance. So they’d probably be really classic. Maybe Cass from Venom or Meghan from the Iron Fey to be the leading characters? And then of course their love interests from their own book for the male counterpart 😉

Q7. Best cover you ever did? Post the link, I’d love my readers to listen to you sing!

I think it was Ronan by Taylor Swift because it was kind of like a perfect match for my voice, in a manner of speaking.

Q8. Taylor Swift‘s favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird, have you read it? If not, then do you plan to or your Swifty-ness is limited to music alone?

Wait. Taylor Swift’s favorite book is To Kill a Mockingbird? OMG okay I’m not the biggest Swifty in the world, but she’s definitely an inspiration and although I don’t know everything about her and I’m not the biggest Swifty, I definitely believe in the influence she has and maybe one day I’ll be half as successful.

But to answer your question, I definitely have to read it when I find the time! I think I’ll have to read it when I get into high school since I’m sure it’s required reading at my high school, so I can kill two mockingbirds with one stone. Ehh? See what I did there? No, okay. But I heard Taylor was really into historical things, so we must have different reading tastes when it comes to that. Maybe if I’m ever famous and meet her, I’ll introduce her to young adult fantasy and dystopian books!

Q9. What is the one book you loved but feel weird about it since it’s not a genre you’re particularly fond of ’cause y’know Anything is Possible.

I loved Venom but it was really weird because I usually see “historical fiction” and RUN. But I still loved the story and the intrigue it had 🙂

Q10. Situational question: Suppose you’re stuck in a Payphone, Wide Awake and there are Strange Clouds in the sky and it looks like It Will Rain. There are Wild Horses coming toward the payphone, you can’t Breathe and your only chance of escape is to read a quote or a passage from a book to send the horses and the clouds away. What quote or passage would that be, from which book and why?

OOH! This passage from Speechless by Hannah Harrington, where one of the characters says, “Anger is too easy. Love, love takes courage.” Well, it was around that part, and it was so powerful and so sweet that I had to put the book down and go, “Awwww.”

Q11. What are the three things in the world that makes you feel Enchanted?

1. Bloggy friends and people who believe in my dream and talent

2. My beautiful brother who’s always there to endure my tackle hugs

3. Life 🙂

Q12. Any Titanium plans for the blog in the coming future?

Definitely I’m going to try posting covers once a week on my blog, and developing the musical aspect of it. Oh, and I’d also love to hit 2,000 followers but that’s just me at this point being weird.

THANKS FOR HAVING ME ON SANA! I LOVE your questions they made me lol!

Thank you, Eileen for coming over to my blog and giving me a chance to be a part of your blogoversary tour. Tomorrow’s stop is a guest post at Amy’s blog, Book Loving Mom.

Review: Shallow by Georgia Cates Blog Tour

October 13, 2012 by Sana

Click the banner for the tour schedule.

Title: Shallow (Going Under, #2)
Author: Georgia Cates
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Publisher: Georgia Cates
Release Date: 21 September 2012
Pages: 164 (eBook)

Synopsis

Payton Archer’s best friend, Claire, strives to be perfect in every way. Payton doesn’t and this is her story.

Nick Hawke likes his car fast and his girls even faster. He blows through females quicker than his muscle car races down the “The Strip” in Collinsville and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Determined to avoid the devastation he has watched his father endure in the aftermath of his mother leaving, he believes there is no room in his life or his heart for a relationship lasting more than one night. He seeks happiness in things that won’t let him down…fast cars, adrenaline and one night stands. To his absolute dismay, all of that changes when he unexpectedly runs into an old friend and is introduced to Payton Archer, the first girl he ever wanted for more than one night. There’s only one catch…she is completely immune to him and his smooth talking ways.

Payton Archer is looking for what Claire has with Jessie, but she has given up on finding it…at least until she leaves for college in the Fall because she is certain that is where she will find the perfect guy to fit into her perfect world. She plans on Summer being nothing but three uneventful months of fun, but it turns out to be anything but ordinary when Payton is introduced to Nick Hawke, one of Jessie’s old Collinsville friends. She is shocked by her immediate and intense attraction for “Hawke” because nothing about him is what Payton is looking for. Sure, he’s hot and sexy but he comes from Collinsville and that is definitely not on her list of prerequisites. Everything about him makes Payton’s heart speed because he is exciting and dangerous, but his fast car and the dangerous chances he takes aren’t what scares Payton the most…it’s the way Nick Hawke makes her feel every time he looks at her. Can Payton find that moment of total fearlessness and make the decision to leave the safe, shallow end of love to risk going under completely?

My Rating

* * *

The Review

Shallow introduced me to two great main characters and while, I am glad I got a chance to read it, it falls short slightly. Payton wants her ever after but she doesn’t want to get hurt after the whole Cooper fiasco. So until someone better comes along, she’s stuck between Mom and Dad aka Claire and Jessie.

However, Payton does not take anyone’s bullshit and she knows how to put people in their places. In short, she’s simply badass. So when Nick aka Hawke takes a fancy to her and uses every trick in the book to impress her, all she feels is bored.

Nicks work has just begin though, he tries out other routes to get to her because she has the power to unnerve him and make him nervous. Something no other girl has ever done before. So it’s natural for Nick to have a need to get close to her.

It’s surprising because even Jessie was not this much of a man-whore but it all really fits together because Payton is exactly the kind of girl Nick would fall for. And fall he does. But things are not as simple and story goes deeper than just their relationship affecting them in serious ways.

So while it’s true that one wouldn’t peg a womanizer of the first degree to have a journal; it’s also unbelievable and slightly ridiculous. I warmed up to the idea but the content stumped me. And this was where the story went into a strange way for me.

In all, I just really think that Shallow started out as a great read, a book I might have liked more than Going Under. But as the story progressed, it eventually went downhill for me and I was kind of ready for it to end when that happened. I’m not saying to not read Shallow, definitely do. I’m just saying it could have had a follow-up to the ending.

Best Quotes:

“My heart suddenly felt cold and the center began to crack and shatter like a sheet of ice when it can no longer withstand the pressure being pushed against it.”

“Can’t you see I would do anything to be your everything?“

About the Author

I reside in rural Mississippi with my wonderful husband, Jeff, and our two beautiful daughters.

I spent thirteen years as a labor and delivery nurse before I decided to pursue my dream of becoming an author.

Blood of Anteros, Book One in The Vampire Agápe Series, was my first novel and it was released in September 2011.

I decided to step away from the paranormal genre to try my hand at a young adult romance and I loved it. It was so much fun, I plan to do it again in the near future.

Georgia Cates can be found at

Buy Shallow (Going Under, #2)

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Cover Reveal: The Trajectory of Dreams by Nicole Wolverton + Excerpt

October 2, 2012 by Sana

I’m extremely honoured to present the exclusive cover reveal of Nicole Wolverton’s debut The Trajectory of Dreams. As always, I love it when the cover connects to the storyline of the book and this one really does. I’m so, so excited for The Trajectory of Dreams! The cover gives off a feeling of an explosion about to occur and the upside down concrete and sky with the cloud trail is really unique. You’ll definitely give it a second, a third and a fourth look! Such a pretty cover, I think it’s perfect.

Thank you, Nicole, for letting me be the one to reveal it.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Trajectory of Dreams by Nicole Wolverton

adult psychological thriller published by Bitingduck Press on 1 March 2013

For Lela White, a Houston sleep lab technician, sleep doesn’t come easy—there’s a price to be paid for a poor night’s sleep, and she’s the judge, jury, and executioner.

Everyone around Lela considers her a private woman with a passion for her lab work. But nighttime reveals her for what she is: a woman on a critical secret mission. Lela lives in the grip of a mental disorder that compels her to break into astronauts’ homes to ensure they can sleep well and believes that by doing so, she keeps the revitalized U.S. space program safe from fatal accidents. What began at the age of ten when her mother confessed to blowing up the space shuttle has evolved into Lela’s life’s work. She dreads the day when an astronaut doesn’t pass her testing, but she’s prepared to kill for the greater good.

When Zory Korchagin, a Russian cosmonaut on loan to the U.S. shuttle program, finds himself drawn to Lela, he puts her carefully-constructed world at risk of an explosion as surely as he does his own upcoming launch. As Lela’s universe unravels, no one is safe.

THE EXCERPT

For the good of the shuttle launch and the astronauts, I would kill him. The shuttle program had languished on hiatus for forty-nine months years prior—shut down after the last incident. It was my responsibility to ensure it never happened again.

Meehan rolled again, this time onto his stomach. His arms tightened around his pillow in a bear hug. Within seconds he snored. Not loud—it was more of a wispy grumble. Not the type indicative of obstructive sleep apnea.

All the while adrenaline roller coastered through me, up the steep beginning incline and wailing around the curves and dips.

His breathing evened out and deepened. I tried to control my own, finally sucking in a quiet lungful of air.

I stepped closer, raising the autoinjector. All it would take was a quick jab. He stayed asleep, though, sinking deeper and deeper with each rise of his lungs. My feet moved of their own accord, carrying me around his bed and out his bedroom door.

Some animals are more equal than others. It was definitely true in my case. Years of creeping around, dealing with security systems, and digging into blue prints had left me with skills on par with any professional burglar. They were just animals, though. I was more. I had purpose.

The astronauts I’d studied had gone up and come down—safely. The time would come when they might not get so lucky. A disaster would happen again. We must study the past to predict the future.

I still remembered the last time in vivid detail. I’d been ten—just turned, in fact, several days prior.

The fireball and puffy cloud trail on the television screen in my elementary school hallway turned my fascination to stomach-churning terror, then back to serrated prickles of dread as the smoky streams from the space shuttle split apart, curling and expanding into antennae. A giant, roiling snail head in a sky so blue it hurt to look at.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Wolverton is a freelance writer from the Philadelphia area. Her short fiction has appeared in Black Heart Magazine, The Molotov Cocktail, and Penduline, among others. The Trajectory of Dreams is her debut novel.

When Nicole isn’t writing, you can find her on the Schuylkill River paddling with the Philadelphia Flying Phoenix women’s dragon boat team, sky diving over New Jersey, or digging around in her gardens. She is founder of Farm to Philly, a website focused on eating locally grown foods and sustainable living.

She attended Temple University.

Nicole Wolverton can be found at

Thanks to Nicole Wolverton for giving me a chance to be a part of the cover reveal of The Trajectory of Dreams.

Review: Flight by Alyssa Rose Ivy Blog Tour + Giveaway

September 11, 2012 by Sana

ABOUT THE BOOK

Sometimes you just have to take flight.

A summer in New Orleans is exactly what Allie needs before starting college. Accepting her dad’s invitation to work at his hotel offers an escape from her ex-boyfriend and the chance to spend the summer with her best friend. Meeting a guy is the last thing on her mind—until she sees Levi.

Unable to resist the infuriating yet alluring Levi, Allie finds herself at the center of a supernatural society and forced to decide between following the path she has always trusted or saving a city that might just save her.

THE RATING

THE REVIEW

Sometimes you have to take flight in life to explore the options you never knew you had. Allie would never think that let alone do. Her life is planned out to a tee but she is rather unaware of the fact. So Allie takes a leap before her life starts revolving around Princeton. The leap is a plane ride from New York to New Orleans for the whole summer.

Flight begins with Allie and her bestfriend, Jess on their way to New Orleans. As much as Jess can’t get enough of guys, it definitely hasn’t rubbed off on Allie and her decision to not get involved with the next guy she lays her eyes on or ever. But Levi sees her and he can really be an annoyingly stubborn guy when it comes to getting what he wants.

Allie has had enough of cheesy lines and clingy boyfriends but Levi is definitely not having that. Persuasion is his middle name and it doesn’t hurt that Allie is undeniably attracted to him. Next thing I knew I wanted Allie to punch the guy as much as I wanted her to give him a chance. Levi turned out to be very temptingly good at being bad.

The paranormal element in the book is definitely something unique and enchanting. I was fast caught up in the electrified world Levi has to offer to Allie. It’s nothing I have read before and I ended up enjoying it immensely. The secondary characters play their roles perfectly and I actually liked Hailey with her perky attitude towards life and her sudden adventurous spirit.

Flight is a fast-paced book and I was quickly fully absorbed in the story that I couldn’t get enough of it. The ending was so unexpected that it took me a minute to realize that there are no pages left! An engrossingly rich book by Alyssa Rose Ivy you wouldn’t want to miss reading. Also, that hot scene on the cover actually happens and it’s pretty swoon-worthy! I need to read Focus. Now.

THE QUOTES

“I like the beach during the day, but I love it at night. There is just something about listening to the waves in the darkness and the soft glow of the stars reflecting off the water.”

“Not everything in life is black and white. Sometimes the best parts are gray. Just remember that not everything can fit into one your neat little boxes.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alyssa Rose Ivy is a Young Adult and New Adult author who loves to weave stories with romance and a southern setting. Although raised in the New York area, she fell in love with the South after moving to New Orleans for college. After years as a perpetual student, she turned back to her creative side and decided to write. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and two young children, and she can usually be found with a cup of coffee in her hand.

Alyssa Rose Ivy can be found at

Buy Flight (The Crescent Chronicles, #1)

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THE GIVEAWAY

As part of the blog tour, there are two giveaways: a US only for a print copy and an international one for the eBooks. Good luck!

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Thanks to Alyssa Rose Ivy and ATOMR for providing me a copy of Flight for review.