Shelf Candy Saturday (47): Ink (Paper Gods #1) by Amanda Sun


Shelf Candy Saturday is hosted by A Night's Dream of Books


I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.

Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.

A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.

And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last think Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they’ll both be targets.

Ink on Goodreads
Ink on Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Shadow (Paper Gods 0.5) is free on Amazon right now

Amanda Sun's website &  Twitter 

I know I usually go for the darker covers but I cannot help but LOVE this cover. I love the lighter colors as well as the artsy aspect to it! And the idea of drawings becoming animated is so interesting! I'm looking forward to reading this one!





Blog Tour: Rise of the Magi by Jocelyn Adams



Rise of the Magi




Rise of the Magi
Series:  Lila Gray, book #3

Genre:  Urban Fantasy
Publisher:  J. Taylor Publishing
Release Date:  June 4th, 2013
Keywords:  fae, faeries, elves, selkies, fantasy, urban fantasy, romance, romantic, dryads, paranormal.

Description:

In a battle of wills, who is strongest? The one who hates or the one who loves?

In a test of faith, who will fight the hardest? The one who has everything to lose or the one who believes only in herself?

For Lila Gray, the answer is both. For the Magi, the questions are pointless since they can’t lose, and they’ve been waiting since before Lila’s birth for this one moment. Lila only needs to find them to understand her entire purpose in life. This time, though, instead of protecting her people, Lila may be leading them all, including her unborn child and the man she loves, to their deaths — and not by accident.

In the ultimate trial of heart and soul, and the conclusion to the Lila Gray series, Lila will learn that the greatest weapon of war is herself, with one ultimate unknown. For which side will she fight?

Amazon.com | Barnes & Noble
Goodreads



About the Author

Jocelyn Adams grew up on a cattle farm in Lakefield and has remained a resident of Southern Ontario her entire life, most recently in Muskoka. She has worked as a computer geek, a stable hand, a secretary, and spent most of her childhood buried up to the waist in an old car or tractor engine with her mechanically inclined dad. But mostly, she's a dreamer with a vivid imagination and a love for fantasy (and a closet romantic — shhh!). When she isn't shooting her compound bow in competition or writing, she hangs out with her husband and young daughter at their little house in the woods.

Website  | Blog |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Goodreads  




Guest Post - Jocelyn Adams describes her perfect day

The perfect day

There are many kinds of “perfect days” for me, as I’m sure is true for most of us.  As we grow older, our moods shift and we try new things, our dreams change.  When Jen asked me to describe my perfect day, I tucked the idea into the back of my mind to stew for a while, and after a great deal of thought, I think I’ve got it pegged.  I’m a simple country girl at heart, so it only makes sense that my favorite day is equally simple.

One of the best things about my house is that it’s in the middle of the woods, and it’s always dark at night.  On my perfect day, I wake to the pattering of rain on the roof, the fresh breeze blowing the curtains in across my bed in the grey twilight of early dawn.  My wee turtle will have snuck into my room at some point during the night, and I’m hugging her, breathing in her strawberry shampoo and little girl scent.  My hubby has his arm thrown over both of us, his warm, even breaths on my nape.

This is my quiet time, when most of my creativity happens.  Entire novels have been “mentally” written between that glorious time between waking up and getting out of bed.  Once we’re up, we’ll have breakfast in the screened in porch listening to the birds singing their rain song, me with a Forever Nuts tea in my hand.  The next couple of hours I’ll spend emptying my ideas into the laptop or editing, depending on what stage I’m working on.

When the rain clears up, we’ll take my daughter for a picnic at the park high above our town overlooking the lake, then walk the trail along the river before taking a swim at the beach there.  Back at home, my hubby will fire up the charcoal grill and fill our yard with the scent of smoked ribs or chipotle hamburgers while my girl and I have a swing in the hammock beneath the maples.  After a leisurely supper, we’ll finish off with a hunt for the perfect marshmallow-roasting sticks, and once the campfire is perfectly ablaze, we’ll snuggle together while toasting our treats to the perfect brown above the coals.

Once my wee girl is tucked into bed, I like to read while the damp evening breeze rolls through the house from the open windows, maybe sipping a Bud Light Lime.  Life really doesn’t get much better than that for me.

Tell me about your perfect day.  I’d love to hear from you.





Movie Review: Warm Bodies vs World War Z

 vs


Just a warning, this posts talks about the types of zombies, etc. in each movie so if you like to be totally surprised when first watching a movie then maybe avoid this post. BUT I won’t list much more than you could find out by looking into the movies or watching the movie trailers.

Also, please note that I have not read either book so this is solely comparing the two movies. To break it down a little I’ll compare the types of zombies, their speed, and their goals. I’ll also look at the genre of each movie as well as my overall thoughts of each.

I'll refer to World War Z as WWZ and Warm Bodies as WB

Type of Zombies

In WB, there are two types of zombies. First are the zombies that still pretty much look like…well they look like vampires almost. They mostly just look like pale humans. The second type of zombies, in the movie, are more skeletal and pretty freaking scary. I would NOT want to meet one in a dark alley…or anywhere for that matter!

The zombies in WWZ are a little closer to the classic zombie. They have the cloudy eyes and stretched and sunken skin. But they’re not the rotting flesh and mangled or missing body parts that you normally associate with zombies.

Zombie Goals

Braaaaaains….

All zombies exist only to eat brains & flesh right?! Nope, this isn’t always the case. Ok ok, it is the case in WB; those zombies need to eat flesh & brains in order to ‘survive’. A man’s zombie’s gotta eat right?! The more skeletal zombies in WB will pretty much hunt down any toasty treats aka warm bodies and beating hearts.

It’s a little different story with WWZ. Sure, the zombies in WWZ bite BUT they don’t bite to eat like the classic zombie. They bite to spread the ‘infection’ far and fast. And boy does it spread!! My husband is into the old fashioned (yet still totally awesome) zombies. You know, the ones that rip apart flesh to get to the gooey insides they love so much. Because of this he had a really hard time with the 'infection' twist. I, on the other hand, didn’t have any problems adjusting to this new aged zombie.

Zombie Speed

The more human zombies in WB are slow and sluggish while the skeletal zombies are speedy buggers!

The zombies in WWZ are ridiculously fast! Seriously, if one has you in its sights you don’t really stand a chance.

Movie Genre

WB is more in the romance genre while WWZ is much more of an action flick.

My Thoughts

WB is a slower paced movie. I enjoyed the uniqueness of zombies ‘thawing’ and becoming more human but I did have a problem adjusting to seeing zombies do some very human things. In my book, zombies just do not know how to or have the ability to operate a record player. It didn’t fit for me. It is an enjoyable movie but I don’t see it becoming one of those favorites that I can watch over and over.

WWZ is a fast paced, suspenseful, and action packed. I loved that it kept me on the edge of my seat and even made me jump a few times. I spotted my fellow movie goer, Krista from Krista’s Dust Jacket, covering her mouth with her hands and even biting her nails throughout the movie (yes, I totally just outted you Krista :) ). You know it’s a good movie when you see people really reacting to it. There is no doubt in my mind that I will be watching this again. I’m even tempted to go see it in the theater for a second time…maybe in 3D this time?

Have you seen either of these movies? Which is your favorite?
 
Other recommendations

If you’re looking for other zombie movies I’d recommend Zombieland and Zombie Apocalypse (the one with Ving Rhames).

Zombieland is more on the lighter side of zombie movies. Sure there’s some gore but the camera looks away for some of the scenes so there’s not as much as you might expect. It’s also fairly humorous. I’ve watched it entirely too many times and I still laugh at a couple scenes.  

If you’re looking for a more serious zombie flick then try Zombie Apocalypse, there’s plenty of action and seriously how can you go wrong with a zombie tiger?!?!

Thanks for reading!