ARC Giveaway: DEAD SILENCE by Kimberly Derting

In continuation of last week's chaos, my life hasn't settled into any routine. I'm also waiting for betas to get back to me, and just - bluh!

I also forgot to post the winner for the FEARLESS giveaway - and the official result of the drawing is Theresa Brown Milstein.
Congrats!

In return for your patience, here's another ARC giveaway, this one for DEAD SILENCE by Kimberly Derting. YA magical realism is the best way to describe it - with some bodies and suspenseful catch-the-bad guy scenes. I haven't even had the time to crack the spine on this one, but I've read others in this series, and they're good, in a creepy way.

Leave a comment with a valid way for me to reach you, and I'll post the winner next week. Good luck!

From HarperTeen:

Dead Silence

A Body Finder Novel

By Kimberly Derting

On Sale:	4/16/2013
Formats: Hardcover | eBook

Description:

Sometimes the Dead Can't Be Silenced.
Violet thought she had made peace with her unique ability to sense the echoes of the dead and the imprints that cling to their killers . . . until she acquired an imprint of her own. Forced to carry a reminder of the horrible events of her kidnapping, Violet is more determined than ever to lead a normal life. However, the people who run the special investigative team she works for have no intention of letting her go.

Violet will do whatever it takes to keep her loved ones safe—even if it means lying to her boyfriend, Jay. But when an echo calls to her, she stumbles upon a murder scene unlike anything she's ever witnessed. The murders are frenzied and twisted, and the killer left a disturbing calling card for all to see—a brimstone cross sketched in blood on the wall. And Violet finds herself pulled into a deadly hunt for a vicious madman with an army of devoted followers.

Violet has survived dangerous situations before, but she quickly discovers that protecting those closest to her is far more difficult than protecting herself.

Thanks to my indie bookseller, PARK ROAD BOOKS for providing this copy.

ARC Giveaway - FEARLESS by Cornelia Funke

FEARLESS by Cornelia Funke

I love my local Indie book seller, Sally at Park Road Books.
She must think I'm kind of cool too because I'm always scoring gorgeous ARCs when I visit her. (Definitely a perk of being the Women's National Book Association Charlotte Membership Chair. You should join. We give away all sorts of adult books, some ARCs too.)

One time, Sally gave me two boxes full of beautiful ARCs for children in need. She supports the community that way. She also hosts WNBA-C meetings several times a year.

This week, Sally provided a copy of FEARLESS by Cornelia Funke. (Book Two of the Mirrorworld series - I also posted about Book One, RECKLESS )

Leave a comment with a way for me to reach you. I'll select one lucky winner and I'll announce the results next week.

Here are the details from the author website:

FEARLESS

Can Love Save Jacob Reckless?

Jacob Reckless has only a few months left to live. He’s tried everything to shake the fairy curse that traded his life for his brother’s—legends like the All-Healing Apple, the Well of Eternal Youth, the blood of a northern djinn. And yet hope after hope is extinguished. After months of fruitless searching, Jacob journeys to Mirrorland one last time to deliver the bad news to Fox.

But there they hear of one last possibility. An item so legendary that not even Mirrorworlders believe it exists. A crossbow that could kill thousands, or heal one, when shot through the heart. To find it, Jacob is going to have to beat out a Goyl treasure hunter who is also searching for the prized crossbow— and somehow convince Fox to do whatever it takes to save him.
"Jacob's second adventure is told, and this time I had travelled so far beyond the mirror, that I almost didn't find back. I travelled with mermen, Bluebeards and princes, by train and ship, on horseback and by uncomfortable coaches. I looked into Fox' past and I felt Jacob's mortal fear. I met false witches, a blacksmith with a golden foot, a Goyl with onyx skin... and I miss all that so very much, so that I am now reading Russian fairy tales to continue my journey with book III. Who knows how many books this story will fill in the end. It keeps its secrets safe as the treasures that Jacob is searching for! I can't wait to disclose them all. Jacob is smiling. Needless to say! He knows what I am talking about..." (Cornelia about her book "Fearless")


Extract
On the nightstand next to her bed lay a white feather. Jacob had to smile. She’d kept one. Just like Chanute had also taught him: whatever you find for your clients, always make sure you keep some for yourself. Jacob ran his fingers over the soft down that covered the quill. Whatever was touched with that feather would immediately disappear and only reappear where the feather was put down. Chanute had transported a lot of treasure that way. But it didn’t always work. Some was lost along the way. “Don’t even try. That feather’s mine.” Fox’s eyes were still full of sleep and she flinched as she propped herself up on her injured arm. “Since when are you going treasure hunting without me?” I missed you – he wanted to add, but her glance was cool, like it always was when he’d been away too long. “It wasn’t hard,” she said. “And I didn’t know when you might be back.” Yes, she’d grown up, even if he could still see the girl. In his eyes she’d always been beautiful, even when she’d still been the scrawny little thing that didn’t want to pick the burrs from her hair. Beautiful, like anything that was wild and free. But now she wore the vixen’s beauty on her human skin, and she had turned into a woman without him really noticing it.

                    
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Price: $19.99 US/$21.99 CAN

Pages: 432

Physical Dimensions: 5-1/2" x 8-1/4"

ISBN-13: 9780316056106

On Sale Date: 04/02/2013

Cornelia Funke is Germany's bestselling children's author after J. K. Rowling and R. L. Stine. In the fall of 2002, she made her brilliant debut in the English-language market with the release of the New York Times bestseller The Thief Lord. She is also the author of an acclaimed YA fantasy trilogy that includes Inkheart, Inkspell, and Inkdeath.

Uncorrected Proofs - and their secrets...

The Crown of Embers

I got a healthy stack of YA galleys from my local indie, Park Road Books, and Rae Carson's new one was in the pile. *hops up and down* It comes out in September. :)

I read it yesterday, in one sitting. I<3 fantasy!

I'm not going to review it. I'm going to pass my gently used copy along to the person who can tell me the name of the guy I think Elisa should marry. If you read Girl of Fire and Thorns, you'll know. If you don't remember, here's a big hint:

In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.

Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone's power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.

Leave me a comment with your email address.

If you haven't read Rae Carson yet, just know she's like a Kristin Cashore/Tamora Pierce/Robin McKinley, ie: awesome fantasy writer!

So, the secret of an uncorrected proof:

On the back of each galley there's a bulleted list about the National Marketing Campaign.

Everyone talks about a "National Marketing Campaign" like we aspiring writers should know exactly what it means. Did you nod your head? I used to nod my head. I sort of understood the concept: What is the publishing house going to do for my book?

All the while, I really thought publishing houses didn't support author marketing anymore, and the 'marketing plan' was a compilation of my efforts and their prêt-à-porter house platform. I was right, however...You know how they tell us to be specific? Well, that's the secret I learned.

"Online consumer advertising campaign" is not "Featured title on (insert site here)".

I'm guessing the more specific "featured title" is the one where the publisher is definitely laying out some money. The vague "online campaign" seems more like "if we get good feedback from your galley release, then we might think about spending some money." And what exactly does "extensive" mean?

Maybe you knew all this already, but it's what I learned today. :)

Now. If I could just get someone to offer me one of those "nice deals".