POISON STUDY Chapters 9-17 Thoughts & A Giveaway!

Hey Everyone!

Today I'm posting my thoughts about Chapters 1-8 of POISON STUDY! I re-read this while series every year and I seems I discover new things or things I didn't think about each time! I was also very happy to be able to read chapter 1 from Valek's POV! I got to host that stop during the blog tour if you haven't read it go HERE! Also Maria is posting chapter notes on her POISON STUDY 10 Year Anniversary events page and I have been reading them after each chapter I finish. Go HERE to read Maria's notes!

I'm skipping right to chapter 16 first! We finally get to meet Ari and Janco in this chapter!!! If you're new to this series trust me you will love them and if you're an old fan I'm sure you probably smiled when you got to this one. Everyone knows Valek has my heart but Janco would be my bff in real life!! Ok back to chapter 9 and a short synopsis of the rest! We start to learn how ballsy Yelena is I mean really who gets out of prison to become a poison taster and asks for a salary? I know I wouldn't have thought of it I would be too scared of dying every day lol. We also get to meet a mysterious woman who will become a pivotal part of the series so I hope you paid attention! Also Yelena finally starts her weapons training with Ari and Janco which is hilarious with Janco's taunts. I'm going to keep my notes short each week because if I didn't this post may become a novel lol.

What I really want to know is your thoughts! Are you new to the series or is this a re-read for you as well. Please leave your links to your posts in my comments section. I promise I will read and comment on every post!

Make sure to stop by our other hosts posts too to see their thoughts!

Two Chicks on Books

Fiktshun

Parajunkee

Mundie Moms

Read Now SleepLater

The read-along schedule:

October 4th-10th: Chapters 1-8

October 11th-17th: Chapters 9-17 This week

October 18th-24th: Chapters 18-25

October 25th-31st: Chapters 26-32 and closing post

The giveaway:

Giveaway Details:

10 winners to match 10 years!

Grand Prize is a signed hardcover first edition of Poison Study and Magic Study (both books).

First Place a signed hardcover first edition of Poison Study

5 winners will get a signed cover flat of the original cover of Poison Study

3 winners will get a signed original bookmark for Poison Study

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Authors Are Rockstars!- Maria V. Snyder and 2 Giveaways!

Hey ya’ll Jaime here! Welcome to my stop on the Authors Are Rockstars tour! We’ve saved the best for last or at least in my opinion the best. My author is Maria V. Snyder and she is one of my all-time favorite authors and a really cool person as well! Oh yeah and there's two awesometastic giveaways as well so keep reading and fill out the rafflecopter forms below!!

So why do I think Maria deserves this rockstar status? Quite simply because she does! Maria’s books were introduced to my life when I was reading nothing but Paranormal and Urban Fantasy YA and adult both. When I first grabbed Poison Study I was worried I may not like it because I hadn’t read High Fantasy in a long time! Like since before high school long time. But I shouldn’t have been worried, her world building and beautiful writing grabbed me at page one! Yelena the heroine in the story was so different than any of the others I had read! She jumped off the page and slapped me, hard, and I immediately loved her for it. I also met my #1 book boyfriend of all time in this series Valek. 

My love for her books grew with each one I read. I finished the Study series quickly and jumped right into her Glass series. When those were finished I scavenged her website for her short stories of Sitia and Ixia. I couldn’t get enough of the world and the characters! These are the two series I re-read a lot!

Maria then wrote a sci-fi/dystopian for the YA crowd Inside Out and followed it with Outside In and I fell for those books too. In my opinion they ended way too early I could have read more of that world. I loved Trella and Riley.

Maria started a new High Fantasy series The Healer books and I devoured book 1, Touch of Power in one sitting and I am dying to get my hands on book 2, Scent of Magic which will be out in December! Oh and I’ve also read all of her short stories in any anthology she has been in!

Ok so enough about Maria’s books remember I said she was a cool person? Well while I was scouring her site I found ways to get signed bookplates by answering trivia. And oh boy I sent her email after email with my answers lol do you think she got annoyed? Nope she was awesome even gave me hints when I got a few answers wrong. Then she sent me all my bookplates at one time. We even chat on facebook sometimes even though she isn’t on there much. And oh boy do I wish she had twitter but then I’d probably never leave her alone lol. Oh and her covers are gorgeous right? Well you should check out the foreign versions! Her UK covers are some of my favorites! Check them out in her Cover Gallery!

But enough about why I love Maria. She has an awesome post for me to share with you check it out!!!!! This is Janco's advice for what you should do if you find yourself under a magical attack :)

Magic Sucks

by Janco, Second-in-Command of Ixia’s Security and all around fantastic guy.

So I’m writing this down because my boss, Valek ordered me to.  I don’t really want to, but hey, Valek’s the scariest dude in Ixia and you don’t say no to him.  Ever.  Anyway he seems to think it’s important that I explain to the new recruits how I know someone is using magic, but I’m not promising this will be well written or spelled correctly – if you can’t read my writing, well that’s too bad for you.

And I don’t know if anyone else can really feel magic, so, if after reading this you think I’m crazy, then you probably can’t feel magic.

So how do I do it? It’s complicated so pay attention, puppy dog! The lower half of my right ear had been cut off by a big brute intent on decapitating me. Nice guy, right?  Anywho, my scar starts to hurt when magic’s being used. It burns when it’s strong magic so I know I’m in big trouble when it feels like someone jammed a hot poker into my ear.

Now, I also get this creepy crawly sensation along my skin when there’s magic from different sources. I can’t stand being in the Magician’s Keep in Sitia.  Creepy Keepy is what I call it just for that reason.  It’s almost as if a million tiny bugs are skittering along my skin.  It’s nasty believe me.

And I should tell you that magic has a weight.  To me, the air around me feels…heavy at times and sometimes it lacks…substance as if the magician has changed the very air itself.

Now here’s a bit of advice on what to do if you’re under a magical attack. Most of the time you’re screwed, but there are a few tricks I’ve learned.  If you suspect a magician is reading your mind, jumble your thoughts!  Think of lots of random things, concentrate on useless trivia or go over training drills in your head.  It makes it harder for them to pick out the important stuff.

If your body is doing things you wouldn’t normally do, a magician probably has  control of your muscles. In that case, relax, puppy dog, you’re trapped. Nothing you can do.  However, if you’re having bad thoughts – ideas like strangle the good-looking Second-in-Command, you need to resist those inclinations.  Count numbers backward in your head.  It works, trust me.

Yes, magic sucks.  Magicians have an unfair advantage and are sneaky little devils. Well, except my good friend, Yelena.  She’s the Soulfinder, but she’s super cool.  She never used her magic on me unless she asked first.  Plus she’s one of the good guys. Ixia and Sitia would be majorly messed up without her. So not ALL magicians suck, just ninety-nine percent of them.

Okay – end of lesson, puppy dog.  If you suspect someone has magic, report it to me or Valek, pronto. Don’t try to be a hero.  Leave that to me.

OK Janco just rocks my world! Thanks so much Janco and Maria for stopping by. Oh and I’m lucky to have two awesome giveaways for you today! Harlequin Teen has donated one of Maria’s books to one lucky winner and Maria threw in a complete set of her Glass series with the UK covers that’s open Internationally!!!!!! Fill out the Rafflecopter Forms and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


a Rafflecopter giveaway