T2T: Bitter Frost By: Kailin Gow

Title: Bitter Frost
Author: Kailin Gow
PAPERBACK
Amount of Pages: 240
Release Date: June 1, 2010
Publisher: The EDGE
Geared Towards: Teenage Readers
From: T2T

"'You are my Queen. I cannot deny it. You have always been.'"

Summary (From B.O.B): All her life, Breena had always dreamed about fairies as though she lived among them...beautiful fairies living among mortals and living in Feyland. In her dreams, he was always there the breathtakingly handsome but dangerous Winter Prince, Kian, who is her intended. When Breena turns sixteen, she begins seeing fairies and other creatures mortals don't see. Her best friend Logan, suddenly acts very protective. Then she sees Kian, who seems intent on finding her and carrying her off to Feyland. That's fine and all, but for the fact that humans rarely survive a trip to Feyland, a kiss from a fairy generally means death to the human unless that human has fairy blood in them or is very strong, and although Kian seemed to be her intended, he seems to hate her and wants her dead.

Wdebo's Review: Bitter Frost has the whole paranormal romance thing going on, (hot) werewolves, fairies, fey, love, hate...it's basically all mixed in there, and for that I enjoyed it quite immensly.

Though in the beginning it felt kind of awkward and slow, but after a while the story got addicting and it was hard to put down, I felt that I HAD to finish it, and finished it in less then a day. And after I was done, I felt like I needed to read the next one, because it was left at such a cliffhanger. There was so much adventure and romance it was so great!

I liked the romance in the story...the whole destined/promised to be together thing is pretty intense and nice. I really liked the character of Logan, he played the best friend in love role and it was just so sweet, even though the whole "Popular/hot Guy" in love with the "Nerdy Girl" is pretty cliche but it's always sweet and fantasized about :). And I also liked, though it took a bit, Kian, because even though he was very sweet and intense and rude-ish in the beginning he had that cool-hot guy thing going on...which is totally funster =]

Cafe Cover Chat: Ooo I really like the cover, the blue lipstick is pretty wonderfully cool, and the font is pretty too! (A)

All in all, a great paranormal romance/adventure for most readers and will hopefully make you, like me, be waiting for the next book.

Grade: B++

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And now for Kailin Gow's Guest post :) She will be talking from the point of Raine Malloy.

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Hi Girls and Guys,

It’s me. Raine Malloy. I’m Breena’s mother from The Frost Series. Just stopping by to say Bitter Frost and the second book in The Frost Series, Forever Frost, is now available on Kindle now so you can get a copy downloaded and ready to read within minutes without paying for shipping or gas. They’re available for less than $5 each at the moment for a special release price. It’s also available in print, too. Right now, if you purchase a copy of Bitter Frost and Forever Frost, and send an email receipt of the purchase to theedgebooks@yahoo.com , you can get a signed bookmark of the corresponding bookmark you purchased. While supplies last so hurry up before they’re all gone!

Why should you download Bitter Frost and Forever Frost right now? Well, besides it featuring a cast of supernatural paranormal creatures that range from werewolves, goblins, minotaurs, kewpies, pixies, and fairies; it’s a story about the power and strength of love. I’m the only human in this series, and turns out because I’m human, I have given Breena, who is half-human, half-fairy the strength and combination to become the strongest fairy in Feyland. You see, humans who are able to enter Feyland are stronger than pure fairies. And the royal fairies are no longer able to bear children. The last one who could was Prince Kian’s mother, the Winter Queen. Feyland is where all these magical creatures live, and it is at once beautiful, yet dangerous. When Breena was born in Feyland, it was the most beautiful place you can imagine. When the wind blows through trees in Feyland, you can hear the faint twinkling of music. The land in Summer glows with warmth and life, and there are two suns – one for Summer and the other for Winter. Her father’s kingdom, the Summer Court was at peace with the Winter Court. That is a rarity, as Winter and Summer has always been at odds with each other, fighting so they have dominance over the seasons and time. Countless poems, fairy tales, and even children’s cartoons have depicted this war between Summer and Winter. But because of the growing dangers in Feyland and the politics within the Summer Court, I had to finally take Breena away from Feyland and live in Oregon where Breena can be safe. Now Breena’s back. Into Feyland she went because of her destiny, her calling. She couldn’t help it. She’s now of age, and she is to rule the Summer Court one day. She’s still so young, she doesn’t know the danger she’s in. She’s also beginning to find out what falling in love means. Maybe the kind of love she feels for Prince Kian will turn out to be the kind of love I have with Breena’s father, the Summer King. Maybe it will be more. I don’t want her to find out what heartbreak is, but this love with Kian may lead to it. I want to protect her, keep her away from all the dangers, but I can’t. She’s growing up and becoming a young woman who I am proud of – strong and willing to fight for what she believes is right.

There is a discussion sheet available to download on the publisher’s website, theEDGEbooks.com for Bitter Frost. Is Breena a role model, can being protected by others when she needs it, be considered “weak”? These are some of the questions you can find on the discussion sheet. Bitter Frost and Forever Frost is written by Kailin Gow, whose books have been accepted into classrooms across the United States, recommended by PBS Kids, the PTA and other educational organizations.

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Thanks Raine/Kailin...Be sure to check out/support Bitter Frost!

Wdebo :)

Traveling To Teens can be found HERE.

T2T (Review + Interview + Contest): Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens: A Reading Journal for Young Adult Book Lovers

Brought to you by the amazing Traveling To Teens Book Blog Tour [Click HERE to visit]~

CONTEST!!! (Want to win this book? Sure you do!) Just click on this Link and give your name and email and you're ready to go! :)


Title: Read, Remember, Recommend for Teens: A Reading Journal for Young Adult Book Lovers
Author: Rachelle Knight
SPIRAL-BOUND
Amount of Pages: 345
Publisher: Sourcebooks Inc.
Release Year: 2010
Originally Published: 2008 (Bibliopages)
Geared Towards: YA LOVERS :D

"We bibliophiles (book lovers) need to gather books. We can't deny it-and we shouldn't try. And who among us can resist a good annoted list?"

Summary (From Amazon): This journal leads you on a personal journey through the best loved and most highly acclaimed fiction and literature of all times. This 236-page spiral bound journal encourages you to read and interact with the greatest and most intriguing books and establish intimate relationships with your favorite writers and fellow book lovers.

*Discover literary prize winners from 1919 to now.
*Peruse several "Best Book" lists, all with columns to indicate books read, to read and books to buy.
*Jot down notes about your favorite writers.
*Create your very own personal "To Read" list.
*Keep a detailed record of what you've read.
*Journal your thoughts, feelings, and insights about each book.
*Record a list of books you would recommend and readers you would recommend them to.
*Track books you have borrowed and loaned.

By engaging more intimately with the books you read and share with others, you become as closely bound to the pages as the pages are bound to one another. Read, Remember, Recommend enhances the reading experience and makes each book you encounter an integral part of who you are.

Wdebo's Review: I have never had a book journal before, or anybook that suggested books, so I was very excited to be able to "review" RRR. RRR is such a wonderful resource for YA lovers and just book lovers in general. I was going through all of the titles and all I could think was, "Oh my god, I haven't read so many books." All of the books are divided into sections, which is nice, now my new personal goal is to be able to read at least one book from each section.

There is also a little creativity in the back, blank spaces in which you can write down books you've loaned out (as a stingy-book-horder...that's nice :) ) and books you've read and places to jot down your thoughts. One of the reasons I started my book blog was to be able to rememeber all of the books I've read and my thoughts on them, and so RRR will be the same thing, I just don't need internet access to access it :D

Also, it is very well organized and the tabs look cool and professional.

Cafe Cover Chat: Nice cover, I think it's kinda cute looking (B+)

All in all, a great reasource that is sure to sit on my bedside table for a long time.

Grade: A-

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Now we have an interview with the wonderful Rachelle Knight, enjoy!

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Wdebo: Please describe yourself with three adjectives.

Rachelle: A creative, messy dreamer!

W: Please describe a typical day.

R: First thing is rushing around getting my little boy ready for school: making chocolate milk, finding socks and something amazing for show-n-tell, packing a lunch, and creating "Wolverine" spikes in his short hair with gel (who would have known?). After getting him to school my three year old little boy and I have breakfast and then we both 'check our email'. He has his own computer, which allows me to work on my blog and other journals. We have playtime together which is mostly playing Indiana Jones - I follow him around our house with a Nerf gun shooting bad guys. In the afternoon we pick up my five year old from school and then participate in a myriad of lessons: karate, swimming and soccer. After dinner, we watch "Monster Buster Club" and "Johnny Test" on Disney as a family and then when my boys are in bed, I read for at least two hours - in a bubble bath and bed. The best part of my day!

W: Why did you decide to write Read, Recommend, Remember?

R: My inspiration for creating the journal came from a cluttered purse full of reading suggestions on scraps of paper - a lot of which were books I learned about from following award and notable lists. When I set out to buy a journal to keep these suggestions organized, nothing existed that provided the awards and notable lists nor places to kept track of everything I wanted to buy and recommend to others. In addition, as a book club member, I was always looking for ways to keep my thoughts and discussion points about reading available for discussing. The Read, Remember, Recommend journal was the marriage of both needs

W: What did you do to compile all of the books? Did you have to do a lot of research?

R: I researched through the internet almost exclusively. There are a few sites available that have fairly comprehensive lists of lists, but for the most part each of these were found individually. I became an expert at Google search! I am a computer programmer, so I created a database and wrote a program to take in all the data and perform the cross-referencing of the awards. This made it easier to keep all the data together.

W: What is your favorite color?

R: Green!

W: If you were stranded on an island and could only bring five things what would they be?

R:
1. Flint. I have watched enough "Survivor" episodes to be proficient at starting a fire!
2. Fishing gear - a girl's gotta have something to put on that fire.
3. A tarp. Again, too much "Survivor" watching.
4. A toothbrush. Enough said. :)
5. Pictures of my sweet baby boys (ages 3 and 5) - oh, and my hubby!

W: Are you working on another project now? And if so, could you tell us a little bit about it?

R: I am currently working on my blog everyday - as you know, it is a lot of work! I post my own journal entries, spotlights on award and notable lists, spotlights on other book blogs, and any other book related stuff that catches my eye.

I am also working on a mystery and romance version of the journals. I am hoping to complete the series with science fiction/fantasy, tween, children's and nonfiction versions.

W: Who are some of your favorite authors ever?

R:

Cormac McCarthy
Barbara Kingsolver
Toni Morrison
Stephen King

W: Yeah!! Love Stephen King :) What is your FAVORITE book in the world?

R: My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok.

W: Do you have anything else you would like to add?

R: I would love feedback on the journals. If you are using the teen journal and have questions, comments or suggestions, I would love to hear from you! Email me at: suggestions@bibliobabe.com

W: Thanks so much for lettting me interview you!

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Hope you enjoyed! And please remember to support RRR and join the contest for your chance to win the journal!

Wdebo :)