2012 Sophomore Reading Challenge

This is the year for challenges here at Two Chicks On Books last year we were so new we were a bit afraid of doing one because we didn’t know what they entailed. Now that our blog is almost a year old and we finally feel settled into our blogging roles we have decided to do 2! First The 2012 Debut Author Challenge hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren and now the 2012 Sophomore Reading Challenge hosted by Shanyn at Chick Loves Lit. What’s great about this challenge is we’ve read a lot of the authors first books and are extremely excited to read the sequels!

For this challenge our lists are almost identical so we’ll post out top 10 anticipated sequels for these Sophomore books. Click on the book titles if you want to see the goodreads descriptions for them.

      

      1)    Insurgent by Veronica Roth

      2)   A Touch Morbid by Leah Clifford

      3)   Crown of Embers by Rae Carson

      4)   Hallowed by Cynthia Hand

      5)   Mara Dyer #2 by Michelle Hodkin

      6)   Wings of The Wicked by Courtney Allison Moulton

      7)   Outpost by Ann Aguirre

      8)   Mirage by Kristi Cook

      9)   Dawn of The Knights  by Leigh Fallon

     10)  A Fractured Light  by Jocelyn Davies

If you want to see what other books are on our 2012 SRC shelves check them out on goodreads! Jaime’s shelf and Patricia’s shelf.

So what sophomore books are you looking forward to? Did you sign up for the challenge? Comment below and let us know!

2012 Debut Author Challenge

We have decided to take on the 2012 Debut Author Challenge this year and are very excited! There are some really awesome looking debut novels that are coming out and we can’t wait to start reading them! The challenge is hosted by Kristi The Story Siren if you would like to sign up for the challenge go here http://www.thestorysiren.com/2011/11/sign-ups-for-debut-author-challenge.html

CHALLENGE OBJECTIVE:

• To read & review a minimum of twelve young adult or middle grade debut novels between the dates of January 1, 2012 - January 31, 2013.*
*The 2013 extension is so that December Debuts can be read and count toward the challenge.

RULES & GUIDELINES:

• You must have a Blog to post your reviews or be a member of Goodreads.
• Your blog must be written in English.
• Deadline to join is May 31, 2012.
BOOK GUIDELINES:

• Must be a young adult or middle grade title.
• Must be the author’s YA or MG debut, released in 2012.
• If an author has a previous novel published for adults or children, they can still qualify for the challenge.
• If an author has a previous YA or MG title, they do not qualify for the challenge.

There were so many books that most of them ended up on both of our lists so the first 12 are our combined to read books but, there were others that were on one of our lists and not the other so we posted our 10 additional reads as well. Here are the lists and if you want to see the book covers and descriptions click on our names for the links to both our Goodreads DAC 2012 lists!  

Two Chicks Book List:

     1. Elemental by Emily White

     2. Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins

     3.  Illuminate by Aimee Agresti

     4.  Born Wicked by Jessica Spotswood

     5. Harbinger by Sara Wilson Etienne

     6. Destiny’s Fire by Trisha Wolfe

     7. Fracture by Megan Miranda

     8. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

     9. Tempest by Julie Cross

    10. Above by Leah Bobet

    11. Fractured Light by Rachel McClellan

    12. Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard

Jaime’s Additional Reads:

     1. Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

     2. The Alchemy of Forever by Avery Williams

     3. The Selection by Kiera Cass

     4. Struck by Jennifer Bosworth

     5. Article 5 by Kristen Simmons

     6. Slide by Jill Hathaway

     7. A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont

     8. Etiquette and Espionage (The Finishing School) by Gail Carriger
     9. Forbidden by Syrie James

    10. Defiance by C.J. Redwine

Patricia's Additional Reads:

    1. Halflings by Heather Burch

    2. Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

    3.  When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen

    4.  Croak by Gina Damico

    5.  Wake by Amanda Hocking

    6. The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rotherberg

    7.  When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen

    8.  Everneath by Brodi Ashton

    9.  Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

   10. Under the Never Sky by Victoria Rossi

Did you sign up? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2012? Post a comment and let us know :D

Smokeless Fire Blog Tour and Giveaway

Today Samantha Young is visiting the blog with her character Ari with a cool Q&A! If you haven’t heard of the book here’s the synopsis. 

Fear the Heat...

For the last two years Ari’s life has been anything but normal and on her 18th birthday, when her friends surprise her with a gimmick genie claiming to grant wishes, Ari discovers the truth. The tragic and strange occurrences surrounding her 16th birthday were not coincidental and her life is never going to be the same again.

Ari’s real parents are not normal. They are not loving. They are not human.

They are myth.

They are Smokeless Fire.

They are Jinn.

Here’s the trailer too!

On to Ari’s This or That list.

Books or Movies?- OK that’s a tough one. Books or movies? Books or movies? This actually might qualify as cruelty. Uhhh… OK books. No. Movies. No, books. No. Yeah. Yeah, books. Definitely books. Movies are more fun when there are people to watch them with and these days there haven’t been so many ‘people’ as such, around me. So books. That’s a solid yes for books.

Jai or Charlie?- Pfft! What kind of question is that? Is it hot in here?

The White King or The Red King?- Well in reality neither. They’re both terrifying in their own way but I guess The Red King does seem nicer so… if I have to… The Red King it is.

 Harry or Ron?- Ron. He’s so cute.

Mexican or Chinese Food?- Oooh I like them both. And now I’m hungry. Grrreat. I’ll say Mexican food but by a very slim margin.

  Ice Cream or Cake?- Ice Cream. Wow, that was decisive. Who knew I had it in me, ha.

 Magic or No Magic?- Although admittedly conjuring stuff is very handy and all, my life has been nothing but non-stop terror and danger since magic came into the equation so I’m going with a firm no magic.

 Rock or Pop?- Oh definitely rock. I like some pop but I can’t get through my day without a little Metric.

Eyes or Lips?- Eyes… definitely eyes. In fact I wish some people would take their gorgeous eyes and hide them where they can’t confuse me with their… utter… gorgeousness.

Vampires or Jinn?- Uhhh… vampires. They aren’t real.

Want a copy of Smokeless Fire? Giveaway Closed! Congtrats winners!!!! . The contest is international and will close at midnight October 29^th. The winners will be chosen randomly and will have 48 hours to claim their prize or we will choose another. For an extra entry tweet about the giveaway with the #SmokelessFire hashtag.

The book came out October 21^st in ebook form and the paperback will be coming out shortly!

Make sure to check out the Fire Spirits website and Samantha’s website.

You can purchase Smokeless Fire at Amazon or Smashwords.

YA Spooktacular Day 2

               


Welcome to another stop for the second annual YASpooktacular, hosted by Frenzy of Noise and Wicked Awesome Books.

This year, there are three stories written by some of your favorite authors that will be posted throughout the week. Each story is a choose your adventure, where you get to decide what path to send the character down. Sometimes you live, sometimes you die, and sometimes you fall into a pit of no return.

There are also some TRICKS or TREATS scattered throughout the story, where you can enter to win prizes and get bonus points toward the prize packs. The prize pack for Story #2 will be up tomorrow! On Halloween day, the grand prize pack will be posted. You can click the banner above to see a full list of the YASpooktacular prize packs!

Author bio:
Amy Garvey has always been a reader. She’s also been a movie theater ticket taker, a nanny, a camp counselor, and a romance editor. Now she’s a wife and a mom and a writer who still spends most of her free time reading (when she’s not watching too much TV). After starting off in romance with books like Hot Date and Pictures of Us, she’s writing in the genre she’s always loved most, young adult fiction. Cold Kiss is now available from HarperTeen.

You can find Amy on Twitter, on her blog, and on Goodreads:

Blog: http://amygarveywrites.blogspot.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/amygarvey
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146986.Amy_Garvey

You can order her books at the following places:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Amy-Garvey/e/B001ILFO1K/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1317782063&sr=1-1
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/amy-garvey/2932090
The Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Cold-Kiss-Amy-Garvey/9780061996221

You can pick it up at the beginning by clicking on the banner or here..... http://www.readingteen.net/

Grab Stace and escape

You can’t even process what this creature is. It’s huge, man-shaped, but there’s no time or light to look closer. As it shambles toward you, you grab the first thing your hand touches in the dark, an old broom. Wielding it like a sword, you shout Stace’s name.

“I’m here,” she cries, voice ragged with shouting and sobbing, and you slash out at the man thing. Running past it, you stumble over something on the floor and nearly fall into Stace’s shaking arms.

“Back there,” you manage to get out. Even through the musty fog of the basement, you can smell the smoke from the garage. “The outside door!”

Together you scramble toward the back of the basement. Boxes and old junk clatter to the concrete, and behind you there’s an anguished grunt.

“Come on,” you urge Stace, grabbing her hand and running up the short set of stairs to the rusted bulkhead doors that lead outside. At first they stick, groaning as you push on them, but Stace joins you. Together you throw yourselves against the doors and they yawn open with a metallic whine.

“Run!” you yell, and she grabs your arm as you race across the lawn, away from the billowing smoke and the demonic orange glow of the burning garage.

“What … what is going on?” Stace sobs once you’re in the street. You stop under a lamppost, panting, and kick off your ridiculous shoes. It’s hard to believe they’re still on your feet at this point.

“I have no idea,” you tell her, “but we’ve got to find Michael, and probably Des. Come on.”

Party time is over. It’s survival time now.

You’ve reached a dead end to the story. Go back to the beginning at Reading Teen (http://readingteen.net/)

Or back up a step by going to The Book Cellar (http://www.thebookcellarx.com/)

Make sure you visit Lisa M. Potts (http://virginsheets.blogspot.com/) tomorrow and enter to win the prize pack for story 2!

And visit Wicked Awesome Books or Frenzy of Noise on October 31^st to enter the GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY for a ton of books and a ton of swag!!

We're also hosting a giveaway! We have a copy of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin and The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa up for grabs! To enter check out this crossword puzzle and then fill out this FORM Good Luck!

Make sure to comment to let us know how you liked the story!

Lie or Die Winners!!!!!!

We just wanted to pop in real quick to let you know the voting is over, the winner has been chosen, and to thank everyone who voted! The five authors wrote some seriously kick butt stories but in the end there could be only one (love the Highlander reference hehe) and the winning story just happened to be the one we hosted right here on our blog!!!! That story was......


                                              Splitsville by GP Ching


Congrats G.P your story was awesome and we're elated that you won! :D


The winner of the prize pack is Larry Kollar!!!!!! Larry has been notified and Kathleen Tucker will be in touch soon.


We also wanted to take a minute to thank all the awesome bloggers that worked with us we love you all dearly! Rachel from Fiktshun, Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads, Lisa from A Life Bound by Books, and Jessica from Taking It One Book At A Time! Hugs :)

Jaime's Review of Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

From Goodreads.
Juliette hasn't touched anyone in exactly 264 days. The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette's touch is fatal. As long as she doesn't hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don't fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war- and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she's exactly what they need right now.

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting as The Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices, Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

Jaime’s review…..

I’ll openly admit this was one of those books like Divergent that I had friends pushing me to read. Every day they were like “Have you started yet? Why not?” and my best reasoning was I have other books I need to read and review first I’ll get to it soon. Well finally one afternoon Mindy from Magical Urban Fantasy Reads and Rachel from Fiktshun told Patricia how awesome it was so she started bugging me to read it so, I finally did. Let me tell you I should have not have held onto this ARC for so long without reading it!!!! 

This book was fantastic, brilliant, amazeballs, awesomesauce, and every other word that you can think of for great! The lyrical prose was beautifully written, the story flowed like a song flying off the pages! I literally dreamt about this book for the past three nights while reading it! I also cried quite a bit but, I laughed and smiled as well. I am hopelessly in love with Adam and very jealous of Juliette ;)

Tahereh Mafi has created a masterpiece with writing like this…..

“I’m looking and not looking at his face, I’m licked by a million flames and swallowing a million more. He’s staring at like me like he’s never seen me before. I want to wash my soul in the bottomless blue of his eyes.”

Swoons right? The writing is that lyrical and beautiful throughout the entire book!

Now we’re expecting a really bad guy for a villain but I actually found him to be extremely interesting and, I didn’t hate him. You’re probably thinking how? Trust me when you read the book I think you’ll understand.

If you like a good Dystopian read with a hint of fantasy and paranormal Shatter Me is the perfect book for you! I am patiently (NOT AT ALL) waiting for the next book. So when Shatter Me arrives at bookstores November 15^th buy this book!!!!! I am not asking, I’m telling this book must be read!

You can pre order Shatter Me from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Tomorrow is ShatterDay Are you Attending????

Tomorrow Saturday, October 22^nd  is going to be an awesome day! Harper Teen, Pitch Dark Books, and author Tahereh Mafi are hosting an an all-day online event offering g exclusive previews from SHATTER ME, the hottest new book of the season! Trust us it’s going to be worth it! Jaime is reading Shatter Me right now and she says it’s amazing!!!!!!!!

The Event is going to feature……
- Chapter reveals every hour, starting at midnight. 24 hours = 24 chapters!
- A Livestream appearance from author Tahereh Mafi

There is also a contest to win an ARC of Shatter Me you can enter HERE!

So go RSVP HERE! We insist you won’t be sorry.