Halloween Giveaway! A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness!

Halloween is the perfect time for a giveaway of one of 2011's most anticipated novels, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness! Here's a little about the book:

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

~Synopsis from Amazon.com

So, this is the scoop. The winner of this giveaway will receive a set of the very cool buttons you see below. Then, when the book is released in February they will receive a hot-off-the-press copy of the book! How cool is that? Winner will be drawn at random and must have a US mailing address. Enter thru midnight eastern on Nov. 5. To enter just leave me a comment here telling me what you are doing this year for Halloween or relating your favorite Halloween. Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win. Many thanks to Langan at Viking for providing the buttons and book! Happy Halloween everyone! Thanks for visiting and entering!

Review: Catch of a Lifetime by Judi Fennell

Angel Tritone has always been fascinated with humans. As a mermaid, and a princess of the Mer family who rule the undersea world, she is the one that studies human ways, collects human items, wears human clothes. And she would like to put that accumulated knowledge to good use with a job as head of the new conservation coalition that is being discussed among the High Council. Not that the council is eager to consider her for the position, but she is determined to convince them that she is the Mer for the job.

To that end, Angel decides to do some close observation. Unfortunately her plans go awry when when she is chased by Harry the shark and ends up stranded on the deck of a boat where she befriends six year old Michael. He is a sweet, smart kid with a gorgeous dad, Logan, and soon Angel is falling for both of them. She tells herself that the time she spends with them on land is excellent research....

Logan can't believe that he has found a beautiful, kind woman who seems to care for both him and his son. But Angel can't bring herself to tell him the truth about herself and Logan is understandably furious when he finds out. He pushes Angel away and she leaves...but when Michael tries to find her the results are disastrous.

Catch of a Lifetime is the third book in Judi Fennell's fun, sexy under-the-sea series, the first two books are In Over Her Head and Wild Blue Under. All of them are witty and wonderful, full of interesting characters of all types: humans, mers, birds, reptiles, sharks, sea monsters. Well, one sea monster...Ceto is in a class by herself.

Have the winter blues, need some escape from the snow/rain/wind/cold? (I know I do!) Pick up these books, they will take you away to a sandy beach with warm blue water...what could be better than that? For more information about all three books, visit Judi Fennell's website.

Catch of a Lifetime is published by Sourcebooks, ISBN 978-1-4022-2428-7. My review copy was provided by the publisher.

Review & Giveaway: The Swan Maiden by Jules Watson

Many years ago, Conor, king of the Uliad, received a prophecy concerning a baby girl, Deirdre. The druids proclaimed that she would cause strife amongst his Red Branch warriors and bring ruin to his kingdom. Ignoring their warnings, Conor fostered the baby with two peasants deep in the forest and sent a female druid, Levarcham, to instruct her and groom her to become his wife when she reached an appropriate age for marriage.

Nearly twenty years have passed and Deirdre has grown into a stunningly beautiful young woman who is talented in the arts of the druids. Conor has been a frequent visitor and is eager to take her into his bed. Levarcham has put him off for as long as she dares, she knows that Conor obsessiveness will quickly break Deirdre's spirit.

By chance, Deirdre comes across three of the Red Branch warriors when they are hunting in the forest. The three are brothers: Naisi, Ainnle and Ardan. As she eavesdrops on their fireside banter, she realizes the kind of life that she is about to be committed to and is struck by the strong urge to rebel against it. She has no desire to become Conor's wife, he is a bitter, hard old man and the thought of being with him makes Deirdre ill. So she convinces the brothers to rescue her, to escort her to a neighboring kingdom where she can take refuge.

Helping her goes against every tenant of the Red Branch warrior code, but the brothers still agree to do it. They have become increasingly unhappy with Conor's abilities as King. Naisi, in particular, feels this way and Deirdre offers him an opportunity to highlight the growing dissatisfaction toward the King.

Little do any of them know that their plan will take them far from home, sundering them from all they hold dear. Except each other, though those relationships are also strained by their long journey. Naisi and Deirdre form such a strong romantic bond that it becomes the stuff from which legends are made. But it also means that they can never return to Emain Macha unless they face the wrath of Conor, who will have the power of a kingdom behind his vengeance.

More and more, I find this particular genre to be a favorite of mine. Historical fiction with just a touch of fantasy thrown it, set in a time when magic was believed in, it was still part of daily life. I love to see the author's interpretation of how a myth or folktale might have at its heart an actual occurrence, as if you could wipe away the embroidering that comes from years of retelling and see the spark of what started it all. Jules Watson does just this and does it so well that I could hardly put the book down. It is an excellent story, brilliantly told and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Visit the author's website for more information about her and her books. She is also the author of the wonderful Dalriada Trilogy, set in Ancient Scotland: The White Mare, The Dawn Stag, and The Boar Stone (titled The Song of the North in the U.S.). Her next book, The Raven Queen, will be published in 2010 by Bantam.

The Swan Maiden is published by Bantam. ISBN 978-0-553-38464-2

Now for the giveaway. To enter, just leave a comment that includes your email address, telling me why you would like to read this book. An additional entry will be given to anyone who becomes a follower (any current followers who enter will automatically get this), tweets the giveaway on twitter or blogs about it. If you do tweet or blog, please leave me a separate comment with the link. You can enter until midnight eastern time on July 16, you must have a US mailing address to win (sorry!). Winner will be drawn at random. Good luck everyone. Thanks so much to Jules and Bantam for providing my review copy and the book for this giveaway!

**Edited to add that I just got an email from the author, she will be sending me a signed bookplate for the winner of this giveaway! YAY! Thank you, Jules!

Review and Blog Tour: Starfinder by John Marco

The city of Calio is the highest in the world, built in the mountains and home of the Aerodrome where the Skyknights train in their flying machines called dragonflies. Thirteen year old Moth has worked at the Aerodrome for three years, he dreams of being a Skyknight himself but knows that those elite pilots come from the upper reaches of their society. Moth is an poor orphan and has little chance of even becoming a squire for a Skyknight.

To the north of the city stretches the Reach, a vast bank of fog that extends farther than the eye can see. No one who enters the Reach ever comes back and there are plenty of legends about what is in and beyond it.

The novel opens on Moth's birthday. He hurries home to the small apartment that he shares with Leroux, an old man who took Moth in when his mother died, and Leroux's strange pet, a bird named Esme. When Leroux was young he was an Eldrin Knight, a legendary group of warriors who have disappeared into the mists of time. Leroux tells all sorts of strange tales but has saved the strangest one for this night, after Moth's birthday party. He wakes Moth up in the middle of the night and tells him that Esme isn't really a bird. She is from beyond the Reach and the only way to change her back to her true form is to take her back across. Leroux has never been able to do it, he charges Moth with returning Esme to the land beyond The Reach. A wizard named Merceron lives there who will help to change her back.

When Moth awakens in the morning, Leroux has died in his sleep. He is heartbroken and then scared when he finds the Governor's men ransacking their small apartment. The Governor, Rendor, is the designer of the dragonflies and airships used in their world. He is a powerful man and Leroux had something that he wants. It is a device from the land beyond the Reach called the Starfinder

Moth hides from the Governor's men with the help of some friends, one of whom is Rendor's granddaughter, Fiona. When Esme brings Moth the missing Starfinder, he knows what he has to do. He heads into the Reach, accompanied by Fiona, and into an adventure larger than either of them could ever have imagined.

I was completely enchanted by this book. It took me back to when I was nine and spent an entire day on the couch reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe from cover to cover. I was also reminded a bit of Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising sequence and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. John Marco is in good company! He has written an excellent adventure story, created a complete fantasy world and filled it with complex creatures and mythical beasts that will delight readers from nine to ninety. I absolutely loved this book and can't recommend it highly enough!

For more information on this book and the author's other works, visit his website.

I received this book as part of a TLC Book Tour. Here are the other stops:

Wednesday, May 20th: Fantasy & Sci-Fi Lovin’ News & Reviews
Saturday, May 23rd: Fantasy Book Critic
Tuesday, May 26th: Steph Su Reads
Wednesday, May 27th: Shooting Stars Mag
Thursday, May 28th: Becky’s Book Reviews
Monday, June 1st: Stuff as Dreams are Made On
Wednesday, June 3rd: Juiciliciousss Reviews
Friday, June 5th: Beth Fish Reads
Monday, June 8th: Books By Their Cover
Wednesday, June 10th: In Search of Giants
Monday, June 15th: At Home With Books
Wednesday, June 17th: The Written World
Friday, June 19th: Medieval Bookworm
Tuesday, June 23rd: The Magic of Ink
Thursday, June 25th: Reader’s Respite
Monday, June 29th: Drey’s Library


Starfinder: Book One of the Skylords is published by DAW, ISBN 978-0-7564-0551-9

Saturday Suggestions: Juliet Marillier

Well, I am a bit late this Saturday but it still officially is Saturday, so I guess it counts!

This week I reviewed Axe of Iron, a historical novel about the Northmen, or Vikings, exploring and searching out new lands to settle. I was reminded of two books that I very much enjoyed by one of my favorite authors, Juliet Marillier. Her books are classified as "fantasy" but I think they are more properly "historical fantasy." I like fantasy novels but my favorites are always the ones that take place in our actual past (that is, our world as opposed to a fictional world) and then weave in fantasy elements, as these do.

Wolfskin takes place somewhere around 800, when the Vikings landed on the Orkney islands north of Scotland and settled there. There were native people living there, of course, and this novel explores the clash of the two cultures by telling the story of Nessa, a native Priestess and Eyvind, a Northman. There is a sequel, Foxmask. Both are wonderful novels. I have yet to read a book by this author that I didn't love.

I reviewed a book in a different series by this same author a few months ago, Heir to Sevenwaters.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend!

Review: Heir to Sevenwaters by Juliet Marillier

"It was best to keep on the good side of the Fair Folk, whatever one's opinion of them. The forest of Sevenwaters was as much their home as it was ours. Long ago, our family had been entrusted with the task of keeping the place safe for them. This was one of the last refuges of the ancient races anywhere in Erin, for the great forests were being felled for grazing and the Christian religion had spread widely, displacing druids and wise women. The old faith was practiced only in the most protected and secret pockets of the land. Sevenwaters was one of those."

In ancient Ireland there came a time when the fairy folk, the Old Ones, could no longer inhabit the land. Clodagh's family have protected the forest of Sevenwaters for generations, it is one of the last refuges for the Fair Folk and there has always been an fragile peace. Clodagh is one of six daughters and at long, long last the baby boy that has been so hoped for is born to her parents.

Baby Finbar is only a few days old when he disappears and a doll made of twigs is left in his place. To Clodagh's dismay, she can see that the twig-baby is alive. She can see it breathe and move and hear its hungry cries. No one else can see this, only Clodagh, and she cannot bear to see the little stick baby die. It seems to her that the Fair Folk must want an exchange. While her father and his men search for a missing man that they suspect in the kidnapping, she packs a bag and the twig-baby and sets out to find her tiny brother.

Before long Clodagh meets the fugitive that her farther is looking for, Cathal, in the forest. He claims not to know anything about the baby's disappearance and Clodagh desperately wants to trust him. He becomes her companion in a quest that will require every ounce of their strength and courage if they are going to venture into the fairy realm and return home once again.

Juliet Marillier is one of my favorite authors. She takes ancient folklore tales from Ireland and Britain and breathes life into them. Her books are full of complex and interesting characters who always have a quest or task to complete or a mission to fulfill. The old landscapes and fairy realms are vividly described. This one is no exception. I'm always anxiously awaiting her latest book and have never been disappointed, they are wonderful.

This is the fourth book she has written about Sevenwaters but it is not necessary to have read the others before reading this one. Earlier characters do occur, but only peripherally, and this story stands easily on its own. If you like historical fiction with a little bit of magic thrown in, give these a try!

Visit Juliet Marillier's website here.

Heir to Sevenwaters is published by Roc. ISBN 978-0-451-46233-6

Order Heir to Sevenwaters from Amazon

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