Review and Giveaway of SANCTUM

I have been excited to review for you SANCTUM by Sarah Fine. Honestly, I wasn't sure how Fine would deal with the issue of suicide, which is ultimately what this book was about. But she creates characters and a world that are both intriguing and so real that I was sucked in from the get-go.

The Blurb from Amazon:

"My plan: Get into the city. Get Nadia. Find a way out. Simple."  A week ago, seventeen-year-old Lela Santos’s best friend, Nadia, killed herself. Today, thanks to a farewell ritual gone awry, Lela is standing in paradise, looking upon a vast gated city in the distance – hell. No one willingly walks through the Suicide Gates, into a place smothered in darkness and infested with depraved creatures.

But Lela isn’t just anyone – she’s determined to save her best friend’s soul, even if it means sacrificing her eternal afterlife.

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What I love about this book: There really is so much to love about Fine's writing. She brings a unique twist on Heaven and Hell, which allows readers to look at the tough issue of suicide and rape in a different light. Her characters are real people. Nadia ,who is bogged down in the pressures of our society to be perfect. Lela, the "bad girl" who struggles to get her life on track despite no support from home. And yet despite these girls differences, how much they need each other to survive.

What makes this book unique: The concept of this book blew me away. Fine created a whole new world to set her story in, including characters such as Mazikins (demons). This allowed her to deal with issues teens face today by taking readers away from their own world and reliving those same conflicts in a fantasy setting.

Why you should read it: The romance, oh the romance. Malachi is hot, hot, hot. Do I need to say more?

My favorite line: "Either you're a Mazikin, and I will destroy you, or you are ready to go before the Judge and get out of this city."

Stalk Sarah Fine on her website or Twitter.

I'm also giving away my ARC to one person who comments below. Giveaway open to North American residents. Ends Dec. 9th.

GILDED is on Goodreads!

GILDED is now on Goodreads. My emotions are all jumbled up right now. Excitement. Scared. Freaking out (this is REALLY happening!). And so so happy. My dream is coming true.

I'd love you forever if you'd add GILDED to your Goodreads "read list". Click here to find it.

Many of you have been reading my blog since I started this journey as a writer. Thank you for cheering me on and being totally amazing

The Lucky13's- Creating a Playlist

Have you ever made a playlist for your book? I'm totally addicted to them. Check out my post here on The Lucky 13's blog for the why's and how's to have one for your book.

Winner! And Stuff

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been very busy lately. You know, eating turkey, consuming heaps of birthday cake and writing, writing, writing. It's been a great month and I'm so excited about December because it's just one month away from 2013, my debut year!!!!!

Okay, so I'm just a teeny, tiny bit excited over 2013. But you really can't blame me.

Today I get to announce my winner of RENEGADE by J.A. Souders. It goes to Akoss! Just pop me an email with your address and I'll send you that gorgeous book. My email is farley dot christina L at gmail dot com.

Book Launch for RENEGADE

Last night my friends, Larissa, Tara, Liz and I headed to downtown Orlando to attend Jessica Souders' book launch for RENEGADE. Jess had her launch in a cool, high-rise, open-spaced office area. This was one of the locations that inspired the setting for RENEGADE.

There were stacks of yummy food and these adorable cupcakes!

We jumped in line and got the last of the books she had. Jess signed them with her tagline, "Never forget". I even got an extra autographed copy for you guys to give away at the end of this post!

Then we decided to make Jess cry by giving her an engraved bookmark with her book's cover on it and the famous line from her book.

 Jess and Me!

Jess read a portion of the first chapter. Very moving. 

Group shot!

We had such a fun time hanging out and celebrating Jess' big day. I won't ever forget when she first got her editorial letter and later reading her revisions of RENEGADE. Last night was so exciting to see it all come together into a beautiful book to hold.

If you haven't read RENEGADE, I highly recommend it. It's full of action, mystery and romance. And if you haven't, then enter my contest below. I'm giving away an autographed copy and swag (bookmark, pins and a magnet). Just enter the form by Nov. 24th!

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Prepping to Write a Novel

NaNo is underway and I've been plugging away at my next novel. If you're mildly interested, I've started storyboarding it over here on Pinterest. I'm so hooked on Pinterest with having pictures relating to my novels. They're great visuals for me to use as I'm writing and adding details to the settings.

One of the things that's helped me write my first drafts quickly is prepping for my novel. I do a lot of my research in advance. This book, just like Gilded, required lots of research to make sure my details were correct.

I also plot out my novels in detail and imagine the story in my head so I know what feel I want the novel to have.

If you're getting ready to prep for your next novel, check out my vlog for ideas:

NaNo Starts Today!

I'm doing NaNo this year. I know. Crazy idea. I will be sleep deprived. I will be haunting Starbucks. But I'm determined to get most, if not nearly all, of this writing project I'm working on finished.

Any of you doing NaNo? If you are, sending luck your way!