Fiction Freak: Day 5

Hey guys. I'm hosting super-blogger Nikki Wang from Fiction Freak today as part of her Blogaversary tour. Nikki is known for thought-provoking reviews, copious tweeting, and lots of squealing. Yep, she's the best. It's all you, Nikki ------------------->

Author Love!

Everyone knows you can’t have a book without publishers and, of course, the authors. So THANK YOU to all those people who make sure that books are at their top and come up with these amazing ideas (even if it DOES empty out my pocket. It’s totally worth it. ;D)

To authors:

Thanks to all those authors who tweeted about my reviews, interviews, and more and for RTing! And a special thanks for sending me awesome tweets that made me smile! (And for the record, those books TOTALLY deserved my enthusiasm and love! They were SO good!) And especially to those authors I never talk to who made me love reading in the first place. (But is it OKAY to say BOO to those authors who bashed my negative review? Hmph.) And even if I didn’t like their books, thanks for taking the time to write them in the first place! To those authors that took the time to read my review and share them with their own little quirky messages on Facebook and Twitter. It made my day seeing them! And when y’all /they replied? I squealed so much!

AND THANKS SO MUCH!!! To those authors who sent me a copy of their book to review! I know that most authors would send copies of their books, if they could, so thanks for that too! But too a whole bunch (Gina Rosati {I PROMISE not to cut off my hand for a book now lol.}, Jennifer Echols, and SO many more!) THANK YOU for sending me a copy! I loved reading and reviewing them, and err…it also felt pretty good saying “The authors sent me this AWESOME book!” but never mind that. XD Thanks a lot again! :D

And a BIG thanks to Lili Peloquin for having dealt with my by-and-by emails filled with my reactions (AWESOME book by the way. I mean, BIGGEST. TWIST. EVER. :O) and my insistent emailing almost every day while reading lol. I know I probably annoyed you! And for sending me three hardbacks? My brain exploded. Not kidding. (Oh hey. Just saying, HINT FOR ONE OF THE PRIZES)

And last, but not least, a GIANT HUMONGOUS THANK YOU to Fiona Paul for posting this on her blog in the first place! And a whole bunch of other things. For example…

·         Writing that SO NICE paragraph for me for The Bloggy Awards! I didn’t win, but the fact that I got over 20 votes is awesome enough! And that paragraph made me squeal! I’m quite a squeal-y person, obviously.

·         For guest posting on GYDO! And an awesome post it was! Very informative *nods solemnly*

·         Interviewing me for her Bloggers Helping Bloggers series! I felt so special, honestly. :D

·         Posting my sucky fan art on her sidebar. Even though it’s sucky. No, it really is. I am SO not the best artist!

·         THE BANNER. ACK. The banner I made is ON HER BLOG. :O :O :O

·         My review. Is on. HER WEBSITE. Y’all, I did not squeal. I SCREAMED! It was so exciting because…because…Well, honestly Who WOULDN’T be?

·         For putting up with my conversation (aka my attacking her with emails and gchat messages whenever she’s on.) She’s an awesome author whose book I loved. I CANT HELP IT.

·         FOR GIVING ME THE ONLY ARC SHE BROUGHT TO TEEN AUTHOR CARNIVAL WHEN I FIRST MET HER! ACK I was so excited! I was waving it around and started reading once I was on the subway. AND she SIGNED it. *SQUEAL TIME*

AUTHORS ARE ALL AWESOME. LIKE ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY AWESOME. SO THANKS TO ALL OF Y’ALL!  BEST. PEOPLE. EVER.

THE NEXT HINT IS: C

Collect the hints along the Blogoversary tour at these stops, then unscramble to find when (yes, when!) to find my giveaway! My archive will be mighty important!

(11/19) Day 1: www.fiction-freak.blogspot.com (Kick off!)

(11/20) Day 2: www.sparkles-and-lightning.blogspot.com (How I Started and What I Learned.)

(11/21) Day 3: www.chocolatecoatedreviews.blogspot.com (Books, Books, Books!)

(11/22) Day 4: www.read-a-holicz.blogspot.com (Friends, Rants, and Help, Oh My!)

(11/23) Day 5: www.fionapaulbooks.blogspot.com (Author And Publisher Love!)

(11/24) Day 6: www.yareads.com (You Think You Can Blog?)

(11/25) Day 7: www.eileenlisblog.blogspot.com (Debating? Fun!)

Get ready for BLACK CITY!

Breathless Read #4, Black City by Elizabeth Richards releases on Tuesday November 13th.

A dark and tender post-apocalyptic love story set in the aftermath of a bloody war.

In a city where humans and Darklings are now separated by a high wall and tensions between the two races still simmer after a terrible war, sixteen-year-olds Ash Fisher, a half-blood Darkling, and Natalie Buchanan, a human and the daughter of the Emissary, meet and do the unthinkable—they fall in love. Bonded by a mysterious connection that causes Ash’s long-dormant heart to beat, Ash and Natalie first deny and then struggle to fight their forbidden feelings for each other, knowing if they’re caught, they’ll be executed—but their feelings are too strong.

When Ash and Natalie then find themselves at the center of a deadly conspiracy that threatens to pull the humans and Darklings back into war, they must make hard choices that could result in both their deaths. (via Goodreads)


You've probably heard me going on and on and ON about how much I love this book. I love all of the Breathless Reads, but BLACK CITY is my personal favorite, and I don't even think that blurb up there does it justice. It's just so dark and mysterious and sexy and creepy and action-packed and downright disturbing in a good way. It's like Underworld meets True Blood meets a Nine Inch Nails concert meets that party your mom forbade you to attend meets that guy your best friend warned you about. If Elizabeth Richards did not live on the other side of the Atlantic, I would have to find her house and break in and steal the sequel.

5 minutes of Q&A with Elizabeth Richards:

FP: Most fun part of writing Black City?

ER: The most fun part of writing Black City was the Tracker training scene between Ash and Natalie - it's the first time they make a move on each other, and it's pretty steamy!

FP: Hardest part?

ER: The hardest part of writing Black City was the last few chapters of the book. Those who have read it will understand why *sniff*.

FP: Black City will appeal to people who like ________.

ER: People who like Divergent will probably like Black City. They're both dystopian novels with a steamy romance at their core.

FP: Just for fun, because I am (finally) reading His Dark Materials, what would be your daemon or spirit animal? 

ER: It's gotta be a Long-Eared Jerboa. [FP: A wha? Is that Brit-speak for rabbit? How have I never even heard of that?] They're so unbelievably cute, I'd just spend all day going 'awwwwwww'. Plus they'd be great for spying on people, since they're so tiny they can get into any room and have these massive ears to eavesdrop on conversations. 

Need more Elizabeth Richards? Try her website, blog, twitter, and Facebook!

Venom vocabulary and playlist

Just in case you missed it at the #VenomReleaseParty

 Vocabulary (disclaimer: I am not a native Italian (or French) speaker, so feel free to correct me if you are).

Mannaggia and accidempoli both roughly translate to ‘dammit.’ (or ‘dangit’ if that’s how you roll).

Santo cielo and caspita both roughly translate to ‘goodness!’ or ‘good heavens!’

Mi dispiace means ‘I’m sorry.’

Faites attention means 'be careful' (in French).

A la prochaine means 'until next time' (in French).

Here's a post I did for blogger Nikki Wang that has some illustrated terms like chopines and portego. If there are other foreign words you come across that you think I should define here, just let me know. (I wrote Venom over 2 years ago so I might have forgotten a few).

Playlist* (disclaimer:I'm a proud child of the 90s, but I tried my best to diversify. Honestly, the fact that this list contains no songs from Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, System of a Down, Stone Temple Pilots, or The Crow soundtrack represents major self-restraint on my part :D)

Funeral by Band of Horses 

ET by Katy Perry 

Come on Closer by Jem 

Nightcall by Kavinsky 

Here in My Room by Incubus

My Body is a Cage by Peter Gabriel 

This Night by Black Lab 

I’m on Fire by Stateless 

Wicked Game by Stone Sour 

Good Girl by Carrie Underwood 

The Boy Who Murdered Love by Diana Vickers

The Perfect Drug by Nine Inch Nails

*Thanks to Julie and Nikki for their suggestions :)