Top Ten Tuesday (82)- My Top Ten Favorite Villains

Hi thanks for stopping by!!! And welcome to my Top 10 Tuesday post! 

Thanks to the lovely ladies at The Broke And The Bookish for creating this weekly meme!

Here's this week's topic.

October 4:  All About The Villains -- I don't think we've done a villains topic since back in November 2010 so let's revisit: top ten favorite/most compelling villains in books, top ten of the most vile villains/bad guys in books, top ten villains I secretly (or not so secretly) love, favorite tv villains, favorite comic book villains, ten "villains" of contemporary lit.

I love a good villain so I decided to do my all time favorite villains they may be from books, movies, or TV shows. I'll link to the goodreads page or IMDB page.


1. The Commander from Maria V. Snyder's Study and Glass books. This is one creepy ass villain and you never know his motives.

2. Sylar from Heroes. He is probably one of my all time favorite TV villains!

3. The Commandant from Sabaa Tahir's An Ember in The Ashes series. This chick is messed up

4. Warner's Father. The Supreme Commander from Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me series. This is one bad dude.

5. Khan from the early Star Trek Movies. I'm talking Ricardo Montalban not Benedict Cumberbatch his Khan was a pussycat compared to Montalban's.

6. Voldemort & Umbridge. From both the Harry Potter books and movies. Voldermort was the true villain of the stories and her was awful but in my opinion Dolores Umbridge was worse.

7. Jack Randall from the Outlander books and TV series. He's just a disguising human being and I hate him.

8. The Fairy Queen Anise from Claire Legrand's Winterspell. She may seem nice and sweet she is one bad, bad person.

9. Neegan from The Walking Dead graphic novels and TV show. Yes we just met him on the show last season, and I know who he kills in the graphic novels. I have my fingers crossed it's not the same for the TV show. I love Jeffrey Dean Morgan too so I'm happy I get to see him play such an iconic villain.

10. Rose Red the haunted house in Stephen King's Rose Red Mini-series.(yes I'm talking about a house but it's no ordinary house). Trust me if you haven't seen this find a way to watch it! It's perfect for Halloween!

So what about you? Who are your favorite villains ? And check back next week for my Top Ten books I've read because friends recommended them to me!! 

Hugs,

Jaime

Blog Tour- A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT by Sabaa Tahir My Favorite Quotes & A Giveaway!

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the blog tour for  A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT by Sabaa Tahir! I freaking adore this series and book 2 was better than book 1 IMO which is rather a rarity! It will easily make my top 10 of 2016 list! I'm sharing my favorite quotes from the book today! And make sure to enter the awesome giveaway for a finished copy of the book!!

Haven't heard of A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT? Check it out!

Title: A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Release Date: August 30, 2016

Hardcover: 464 pages

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN: 978-1595148032

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

Elias and Laia are running for their lives.

After the events of the Fourth Trial, Martial soldiers hunt the two fugitives as they flee the city of Serra and undertake a perilous journey through the heart of the Empire.

Laia is determined to break into Kauf - the Empire's most secure and dangerous prison - to save her brother, who is the key to the Scholars' survival. And Elias is determined to help Laia succeed, even if it means giving up his last chance at freedom.

But dark forces, human and otherworldly, work against Laia and Elias. The pair must fight every step of the way to outsmart their enemies: the bloodthirsty Emperor Marcus, the merciless Commandant, the sadistic Warden of Kauf, and, most heartbreaking of all, Helene - Elias's former friend and the Empire's newest Blood Shrike.

Bound to Marcus's will, Helene faces a torturous mission of her own - one that might destroy her: find the traitor Elias Veturius and the Scholar slave who helped him escape... and kill them both. 

Now on to my favorite quotes! 

“So you've made a few bad decisions. So have I. So has Elias. So has everyone attempting to do something difficult. That doesn't mean that you give up, you fool. Do you understand?” 

“Failure doesn't define you. It's what you do after you fail that determines whether you are a leader or a waste of perfectly good air.” 

“Don't lock yourself away from those who care about you because you think you'll hurt them or they'll hurt you. What point is there in being human if you don't let yourself feel anything?” 

“Your emotions make you human. Even the unpleasant ones have a purpose. Don't lock them away. If you ignore them, they just get louder and angrier.” 

“It takes only a split second for life to go horribly wrong. To fix the mess, I need a thousand things to go right. The distance from one bit of luck to the next feels as great as the distance across oceans. But, I decide in this moment, I will bridge that distance, again and again, until I win. I will not fail.” 

“Veturius is a Mask like the rest of us, yes. Bold, brave, strong, swift. But those were afterthoughts for him. Elias sees people as they should be, not as they are. He laughs at himself. He gives of himself - in everything he does. He's the things that I can't be. He's good.” 

“You fool, Helene. When you love, there is always more pain.” 

About Sabaa:

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

WEBSITE| TWITTER | PINTEREST | GOODREADS | TUMBLR  |INSTAGRAM

Giveaway Details:

Enter for a chance to win a finished copy of A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir and an An Ember in the Ashes quote tote bag (ARV: $30.00).

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:01 AM Eastern Time on August 29, 2016 and 11:59 PM Eastern Time on September 16, 2016.  Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about September 23, 2016. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

8/29: Buttermybooks

8/30: Once Upon a Twilight

8/31: Fiction Fare

9/1: My Friends Are Fiction

9/2: Forever Young Adult

9/5: A Perfection Called Books

9/6: Bookish Lifestyle

9/7: Fiktshun

9/8: Two Chicks on Books

9/9: The Fandom

9/12: IceyBooks

9/13: Oh the Book Feels

9/14: What Sarah Read

9/15: The Young Folks

9/16: Mundie Moms 

If you haven't started the series now's a great time!

Read the First 2 Chapters of A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT by Sabaa Tahir & Win an ARC!

Hey All! I am so excited today to be able to share this with you! I have the first 2 chapters of A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT by Sabaa Tahir!! Eeep! Also make sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to win an ARC of the book!

But now let's get to those chapters! Then come back here to enter the giveaway!

Go to EW for Chapter 1!

Go to Mashable for Chapter 2!

About the book.

Title: A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Release Date: August 30, 2016

Hardcover: 464 pages

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN: 978-1595148032

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks

A Torch Against the Night takes readers into the heart of the Empire as Laia and Elias fight their way north to liberate Laia’s brother from the horrors of Kauf Prison. Hunted by Empire soldiers, manipulated by the Commandant, and haunted by their pasts, Laia and Elias must outfox their enemies and confront the treacherousness of their own hearts.

In the city of Serra, Helene Aquilla finds herself bound to the will of the Empire’s twisted new leader, Marcus. When her loyalty is questioned, Helene finds herself taking on a mission to prove herself—a mission that might destroy her, instead. 

About Sabaa:

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash and playing guitar badly.

She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks and all things nerd.

Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

WEBSITE | TWITTER | GOODREADS

Giveaway!

10 winners will receive an ARC of A TORCH AGAINST THE NIGHT, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you haven't read book 1 yet now's the chance to get it! Penguin Teen will be hosting a read along for AN EMBER IN THE ASHES before the next book comes out and the paperback is only $7.31!!!!

Top 10 of 2015 Day 2- Best Book Covers of 2015 and A Giveaway!

Welcome to day 2! Today’s topic is Best Book Covers of 2015 (MUST be a book released in 2015. Would be best if it's a book you've READ in 2015, but it's not required) and this year High Fantasy Covers take the cake in the beauty department!

And make sure to stop by my co-hosts sites Fiktshun, Tales of a Ravenous Reader, and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads for their lists! Oh and make sure to sign up with the linky to share your lists! And today is my giveaway day so make sure to read the whole post and enter below! 

I read and loved all the books on this list. I'm not going to go into why I love these covers I'm just going to let their beauty speak for themselves!

1. TEN THOUSAND SKIES ABOVE YOU by Claudia Gray. 

2. THE IMMORTAL HEIGHTS by Sherry Thomas.

3. MECHANICA by Betsy Cornwell.

4. AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir.

5. THE PERILOUS JOURNEY OF THE NOT SO INNOCUOUS GIRL by Leigh Statham.

6. A WICKED THING by Rhiannon Thomas.

7. SEEKER by Arwen Elys Dayton.

8. THE SIN EATER'S DAUGHTER by Melinda Salisbury.

9. PERSUASION by Martina Boone.

10. ILLUMINAE by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman.

Did any of my favorites make your list? Fill out the linky and let me know! And good luck with the giveaway!

And remember to stop by my co-hosts sites for their lists!

Today is my giveaway day and I have decided to do 2 giveaways!!

Giveaway details;

1 winner will receive a pre-order of a 2016 book of their choice (limit $25) US only.

1 winner will receive a box of 2016 ARC's. (US Only)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AN EMBER IN THE ASHES Fans! Help Us Name the Fandom!

Hey Everyone! Have you ever wanted to name a Fandom? Well the folks at Penguin Teen and a few of my fellow bloggers have joined forces to do just that! And we need your help! We want you to name the Fandom for New York Times bestselling author, Sabaa Tahir's AN EMBER IN THE ASHES! (notice I put New York Times Bestselling author there? That's because of all the amazing readers like you who went out and bought the book! And because of that we also get a sequel! Squeeeeeeee!!!!!)  

I will fully admit I suck at names so I'm really going to need some love in the comments section. Penguin Teen will be visiting all of the participating blogs and on FRIDAY will be posting a poll with all of their favorites! So think up some awesome names and leave them in the comments section!

A few of my not so good ideas are...

Ember Army

Elias's Guard

Laia's Rebels

See? I'm useless so go, go comment!

Hugs,

Jaime

And if you haven't heard of AN EMBER IN THE ASHES it's not too late to join the fandom. Check it out and grab your copy today!

AN EMBER IN THE ASHES 

Sabaa Tahir

Release Date: April 28, 2015

Hardcover: 464 pages

Publisher: Razorbill

ISBN: 978-1595148032

Source: ARC Received from the Publisher

Rating: Obsessed!!!!!!!!!!!

Goodreads |Amazon |Barnes & Noble | iBooks

I WILL TELL YOU THE SAME THING I TELL EVERY SLAVE.

THE RESISTANCE HAS TRIED TO PENETRATE THIS SCHOOL COUNTLESS TIMES. I HAVE DISCOVERED IT EVERY TIME. 

IF YOU ARE WORKING WITH THE RESISTANCE, IF YOU CONTACT THEM, IF YOU THINK OF CONTACTING THEM, I WILL KNOW 

AND I WILL DESTROY YOU.

Laia is a slave.
Elias is a soldier.
Neither is free.

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself. 

Blog Tour- AN EMBER IN THE ASHES by Sabaa Tahir A Post about the Maps!

I am so excited to be hosting a spot on AN EMBER IN THE ASHES Blog Tour! I freaking loved this book! It's easily my one of my favorite of 2015 so far! If you want to see my review go HERE. I have a post about the maps in the books and I am geeking out! I LOVE maps in books!
Haven't heard of AN EMBER IN THE ASHES? Check it out!

Title: AN EMBER IN THE ASHES

Author: Sabaa Tahir

Pub. Date: April 28, 2015

Publisher: Razorbill

Pages: 464

Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

Set in a terrifyingly brutal Rome-like world, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy debut about an orphan fighting for her family and a soldier fighting for his freedom. It’s a story that’s literally burning to be told.

LAIA is a Scholar living under the iron-fisted rule of the Martial Empire. When her brother is arrested for treason, Laia goes undercover as a slave at the empire’s greatest military academy in exchange for assistance from rebel Scholars who claim that they will help to save her brother from execution.

ELIAS is the academy’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias is considering deserting the military, but before he can, he’s ordered to participate in a ruthless contest to choose the next Martial emperor.

When Laia and Elias’s paths cross at the academy, they find that their destinies are more intertwined than either could have imagined and that their choices will change the future of the empire itself.

Check out the book trailer!

Now on to the post!

 I’ve loved maps since I was a kid. Probably because, growing up in the Mojave desert, I sometimes felt like there was nothing beyond the sand and mountains that surrounded me. Looking at maps reminded me that there was, in fact, a whole world out there. To this day, my most prized non-fiction tome is the National Geographic Atlas in my study.

Fantasy maps are my favorite kind of map. A good fantasy map helps the reader orient herself in whatever new world she is experiencing. It contains all the relevant locations—cities, villages, borders, islands, ports. The best maps even offer tantalizing hints about where the author might take you in future books.

One of the first things I did when I began writing EMBER in 2007 was draw a couple of (hideous) maps. One was of the Empire and another was of Blackcliff, the military school where EMBER’s action takes place.

These maps sufficed until 2012, when, between EMBER drafts, I decided I needed maps that I wouldn’t be humiliated to show to beta readers. With the help of a web site called the Cartographer’s Guild, I created a couple of maps with Photoshop. They are basically the mapmaker’s equivalent of stick figures—but better than what I had before.

Fast forward to the summer of 2014: My editor informed me that not only would EMBER be getting maps of Blackcliff and the Empire, but that those maps would be created by Jonathan Roberts, who created the maps for Game of Thrones’ The Land of Ice and Fire.

Jon began by creating rough sketches based off of my maps, fixing some embarrassing geographic errors I’d made. Rivers that should have split when running into the sea were shifted. A conifer forest was transformed into a more geographically appropriate deciduous forest. I gave Jon details about the type of desert I intended for both the Great Wastes and the Tribal Desert, as well as the size and architectural style of each of the cities in the world of Ember. I sent a few images to him, both of Serra and of Raider’s Roost, which is based on a similar rock formation near my hometown.

At the same time, Jon took my, er, minimalist Blackcliff map and created something beautiful: the black slash that represented Blackcliff’s front gate became an imposing entry gate and courtyard; the simple lines that marked watchtowers became fortified, Romanesque towers. Jon also added outbuildings within the school and extensive neighborhood structures for the area beyond Blackcliff’s walls.

Over the course of a few weeks, EMBER’s maps went from my cave-man-esque design, to spare and beautiful sketches, to detailed line art, to the colored and shaded magnificence that you can see on EMBER’s web site or, as the black and white endpapers in Ember’s hardcover edition.  

Watching the evolution of the maps was one of the most fascinating and fun parts of working on EMBER. Jon’s detailed, gorgeous maps somehow managed to capture what I saw in my head with far more clarity than anything I’d have ever come up with.

If you’d like to learn more about Jon—please check out his web site, which is packed full of excellent tutorials: http://www.fantasticmaps.com/

If you’d like some step-by-step instructions on how to create your own fantasy map on photoshop, try the Cartographers Guild at www.cartographersguild.com.

About Sabaa:

Sabaa Tahir grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. There, she spent her time devouring fantasy novels, raiding her brother’s comic book stash and playing guitar badly. She began writing An Ember in the Ashes while working nights as a newspaper editor. She likes thunderous indie rock, garish socks and all things nerd. Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

WEBSITE| TWITTER | PINTEREST | GOODREADS | TUMBLR  |INSTAGRAM

Check out the This Week's Schedule!

5/11 - Read.Breathe.Relax. – interview

5/12 - Mundie Moms – guest post

5/13 – Two Chicks on Books – guest post (HERE)

5/14 - The Children's Book Review – interview

5/15 – Bookhounds - Top 5: Things I HAVE to Do Before I Die