The Nine Paths to Chloe King

I recently received an email from ABC Family asking me if I wanted to participate in a game that takes place in the three weeks prior to the premier of their new show, The Nine Lives of Chloe King.

I was lucky enough to participate in last years Pretty Little Liars challenge and that was a lot of fun, so of course I said yes.

While I was away at BEA, the "game box" showed up at my house. I wasn't able to see it until I came home on Friday, but what was inside was definitely exciting.

Here's what came in the box:

An custom Ipad2, or for the game, a "MaiPad"

A Russian Birth Certificate

A Letter

A Circle Charm

A Bib

(The box itself is wooden with symbols carved into it)

I've already completed the first two tasks (there is a total of 9). The first one consisted of folding up my birth certificate and finding a location. I then had to go to my "MaiMap," which was located on the MaiPad. I then had to look up the meaning of the location. The second task consisted of answering three questions about an ancient egyptian sculpture, and then using those answer to watch a Youtube video. If you want to check it out, simply put "Bastet Sun Bubastis" in your Youtube search engine and you can listen to the message yourself!

ALSO, ABC Family has a free gift offer going on now. You can get your very own circle charm, from now until 6/14/11(or until supplies last). All you have to do is be a follower of any of the people participating in The Nine Paths to Chloe King game, and use the code given. This offer is open to residents of the 50 US states and D.C.

Just go here and enter the code below.

http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/nine-lives-chloe-king/nine-paths

The code for the circle charm is "Circle"

Please know it will take 8-10 weeks to receive your free gift!

I will keep updating about the challenges as they come (I may need your help)!

Sherry<3

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

Publication Date: May 10th, 2011

Published By: Walker Books for Young Readers

Hardcover, 352 Pages

Souce: ARC received from the author/ Teen Book Scene Blog Tour

Summary:

"Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her—and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance."

My Review: **** = 4 Stars

I was very eager to read this book as it pertains to mermaids and I haven't read any mermaids books(at least none that I can think of at this time). It is a relatively less written about paranormal type of book than say vampires or werewolves, so it was unique in that aspect alone.

Tempest Maguire's mother left home for the ocean when she was eleven years old. When Tempest's 17th birthday approaches, and the time following, she will have to make the choice of whether to stay human, or to embrace the life her mother passed on to her, that of a mermaid.

I really enjoyed the character relationships throughout the book. Tempest has her on-again off-again boyfriend Mark, and her best guy friends, as well as her best girl friends. She also meets Kai, a fellow water creature, with whom a relationship blossoms. When it comes down to it she is very close to her family, thanks to her mother for abandoning them six years prior.

The whole mermaid ordeal was quite interesting to read about. Especially everything that happens to Tempest along the way, and the ultimate decision she has to make. I really loved the direction  it took and I was very pleased with the outcome.

The general idea has definitely opened up my eyes to other books that fall in this category and I hope I can find other books portraying such creatures as mermaids. Definitely recommend for any fans of magic/paranormal and the likes.

Sherry<3

Into the Past w/ Tracy Deebs + Giveaway (Tempest Rising Blog Tour)



I'm so pleased to host Tracy Deebs today, author of the recently released Tempest Rising (Walker Books for Young Readers, May 10th, 2011).

For Into the Past, the question is:

 What books do you think your past self would recommend at ages 5, 12, 17 and 20?

Please welcome Tracy! :)

***

Thanks for having me, Sherry! I’ve been a huge reader my whole life, so your prompt made me very, very excited!

At 5, I would have recommended the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, The Little Mermaid, and any book that had Wonder Woman in it (I’m still a huge fan of both to this day)  Oh, and If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss.

At 12, I probably would have recommended the Sweet Valley High series and Forever by Judy Blume. I also loved the Sunfire Historical YA series, where each book was a girl’s name and she lived in a different time in history (the gold rush, New Orleans during pirating times, the American Revolution). A new one came out each month and I devoured them. This was also the time I feel in love with romance novels—especially ones by Jude Deveraux, Nora Roberts and Linda Lael Miller.

At 17, I was obsessed with Anthem by Ayn Rand, Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe

At 20, the Awakening by Kate Chopin changed my life. I also loved the Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros and the poetry of Anne Sexton and Pablo Neruda.

How about you? What is one of your favorite books? Leave a comment and be entered to win a copy of Tempest Rising.

 

*******

 

There you have it!

 

Go ahead and leave a comment telling us one of your favorite books and be enetered to win a copy of Tempest Rising! US Only! Will run for 7 days: 5/12/11 - 5/19/11 and the winner will be announced on Friday 5/20/11.

 

 

*Special thanks to Teen Book Scene for hosting this Blog Tour and to Tracy Deebs on taking the time to stop by!

 

 

 

Sherry<3

Character Tweets: Compulsion by Heidi Ayarbe Blog Tour + Swag Giveaway!

As part of the blog tour for Heidi Ayarbe's Compulsion(which was just released from Balzer & bray/HarperCollins on May 3rd!), she's allowed us to see what the twitter feed of some of the characters from her books might look like. Featured in this feed is Luc from Compulsion, Cappy from Compromised, and Jason from Freeze Frame!

~~~~~~~

Character Tweets: If some of your characters had Twitter accounts, what would their tweet convos be like?

(Character tweets between Jason (from Freeze Frame), Cappy (from Compromised) and Luc (from Compulsion) …)

Jason: Hey, Cappy. Thought you couldn’t read and write.


Cappy: Listen, Dead Boy, if you can do some other-world tweeting, I’ll take care on my end. At least I can touch the fuckin’ keyboard.


Jason: Mind over matter.


Cappy: You’ve got neither, dead boy. Or do you have a mind? Do dead people keep their minds?


Luc: Hijueputa. And I thought M&M was nuts. I’m tweeting with dead guy and illiterate. I’ll take OCD boy, any day.


Cappy: Watch what you say, Pablo. Dude, are you really Colombian? Did you know Escobar? Orejuela?


Luc: Did you know Al Capone? There are like 40 million Colombians. I know about fifty. Escobar isn’t one. And he’s dead.


pause


Cappy: Hey, Dead Boy, can you get Escobar on the line?


Jason: I have a name. It’s Jason. And you could show a little respect for the dead.


Cappy: Whatever.


Luc: Mierda, a sensitive dead guy. That’s all I need.


Jason: You’d think you could appreciate the effort I’m making to contact the living world.


Cappy: You need a ghost whisperer or something?


Luc: Or an exorcist?


Cappy: Or a séance?


Luc: Did you hack into someone’s twitter account. Hey. Can you do that? Like an FBI Ouija board.


Jason: Thanks guys.


Cappy: Dude, take an upper or something. Or were you on the life’s a picnic train? What’s it like up there, anyway? Do you get to hang out with … I dunno.


Jason: Why does everyone always assume it’s up?


Luc: And he’s a pendejo, too.


Jason: I’m just saying that the notion of heaven and hell being up and down is pretty elementary.


Luc: Did you even have friends when you were alive? You seem like a total tool.


Cappy: No kidding “notion of heaven and hell” hoity-toity. So. Do you know anybody up there?


Luc: Here we go with the Escobar cliché. Christ. I don’t know who’s worse, you with Escobar obsession or … never mind.


Cappy: I’m not thinking of Escobar. I’m just wondering if he knows kids up there.


Luc: Yeah. It’s probably like one big happy Facebook page, poking, and farm animal collecting.


Jason: It’s not up.


Cappy: You can’t tweet with this dude. At all. Like total asswipe.


Luc: Agreed. We’re not trying to get all transcendental and shit. Just answer the gd question.


Jason: I’ve been out of touch for a while. What’s Facebook? This Twitter thing is weird enough.


Luc: What are you, pre-historic?


Jason: I died in 2008.


Cappy: Luc: PREHISTORIC !


Luc: Jurassic Dead Guy!


Cappy: He probably was there for the Big Bang.


Luc: The Ten Commandments. Dude, @Jason chiseled on stone? Paint some caves?


Jason:


Luc: @Cappy I think we pissed him off. C’mon, man. We’re just messin’ with you @Jason.


Cappy: @Jason Hello? Hello?


Cappy: @Luc, did you hear an echo?


Luc: Maybe he got disconnected. Imagine WiFi with that kind of range. Crazy unstable.


Jason: I’m here. I think this must be hell.


Luc: What? Twitter? Nah. Learn to use the hashtags, and you’ll be all over that #chatwithdeadboy


Cappy: Nice #chatwithdeadboy


Jason: Can you at least give someone a message?


Luc: Don’t forget #chatwithdeadboy hashtag, tool.


Cappy: I knew this was coming. Some dead guy always has to leave a message. #chatwithdeadboy.


Luc: Very Hollywood. #chatwithdeadboy


Cappy: Why don’t you just tweet your message? #chatwithdeadboy


Jason: Nevermind. I’ll find this Facebook thing.


Luc: @Jason DON’T FORGET THE FREAKING HASHTAG #chatwithdeadboy This is pointless.


Jason: That’s it?


Luc: You can follow me, dude, but I’ve got shit to do. In the real world. Have fun with the angels. Oh. BTW. Are they mad hot? Like sizzling?


Jason: You want to know about hot angels? Really? You forgot #chatwithdeadboy


Luc: Ran out of characters.


Cappy: Hey @Jason I’ll send your message if you send mine.


Jason: I’m going to regret this.


Luc: Making deals with the dead. Pass. Just watch out for my old man. He’s a mean hijueputa.


Jason: @Luc Thanks for the tip.


Cappy: @Jason Waiting. Message?


Jason: I’ll DM you.


Luc: Catching on.


Cappy: Fine. DM.


Luc: Jason: Cappy: Bye.
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Very interesting! Now I'll have to pick up Compromised and Freeze Frame!

 

 

In addition to the Twitter Feed, Heidi is giving one lucky commenter(US Only, sorry guys!) some awesome SWAG!

 

Here's a list of what is included in the Swag Pack: signed book plate, book marks, Colombia surprise (magnet, coffee candy, CHIVA) etc.

 

You have one week(3/5/11-3/12/11) to leave a comment(be sure to include your email address) and the winner will be selected the following day!

 

Good luck!

 

 

*Special thanks to Heidi and to Teen Book Scene!

 

 

 

 

Sherry<3