COVER ART FRIDAY: Crash Into You Cover Reveal!

Happy Friday, Muses!

I'm sure this has already been circulating in the blog world for a few days now, but since I am a huge fan of Katie McGarry's Pushing the Limits series, I just had to share my excitement with everyone over the new cover art for the third and final novel, Crash Into You. Here it is:

Synopsis | Pre-order | Author Website

My Thoughts: I think I squealed like a happy little piggy when I saw this cover! Not just because Katie McGarry has been one of those lucky authors to get amazing cover treatments for her novels in the past, but also Crash Into You is going to be Isaiah's story, a character that has been my favorite throughout the whole series. So I've been anxious to see how they were going to portray him on the cover. He loves his cars and has tats (although I wish they showed his piercings, but let's not be greedy!) so I think they did a great job. Now let's just hope the story can live up to its hype! November can't come quick enough!

Check out my reviews for books 1 & 2 in the Pushing the Limits series by Katie McGarry!

Pushing the Limits | Dare You To

Cover Art Friday: Cover Reveals for Pulse and Taken

Happy Friday, Muses!

It's been awhile since I did a "Cover Art Friday" and I came across these nifty covers while searching for some ARCS. Pulse by Patrick Carman and Taken by Erin Bowman aren't due out until early 2013. The new year is right around the corner, so why not get a little sample of what's to come???

Be aware that since there is a large gap between now and their publication dates, these covers can change. I will of course keep you posted if they should in the future.

Enjoy!

P.S. I personally can't wait until Taken comes out! :)

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PULSE (Pulse Trilogy, #1)
by: Patrick Carman
Release Date: Febuary 2013

From New York Times bestselling author Patrick Carman, a teen fantasy-adventure of epic proportions. In 2051, some teens have a “pulse,” the power to move objects with their minds. Compulsively readable, with thrilling action scenes and a tender love story.

The year is 2051, and the world is still recognizable. With the help of her mysterious classmate Dylan Gilmore, Faith Daniels discovers that she can move objects with her mind. This telekinetic ability is called a “pulse,” and Dylan has the talent, too.

In riveting action scenes, Faith demonstrates her ability to use her pulse against a group of telekinesis masters so powerful they will flatten their enemies by uprooting street lights, moving boulders, and changing the course of a hurtling hammer so that it becomes a deadly weapon. But even with great talent, the mind—and the heart—can be difficult to control. If Faith wants to join forces with Dylan and save the world, she’ll have to harness the power of both.

Patrick Carman’s Pulse trilogy is a stunning, action-filled triumph about the power of the mind—and the power of love.

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TAKEN (Taken, #1)

by: Erin Bowman

Release Date: April 2013

There are no men in Claysoot. There are boys—but every one of them vanishes at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. The ground shakes, the wind howls, a blinding light descends...and he’s gone.

They call it the Heist.

Gray Weathersby’s eighteenth birthday is mere months away, and he’s prepared to meet his fate–until he finds a strange note from his mother and starts to question everything he’s been raised to accept: the Council leaders and their obvious secrets. The Heist itself. And what lies beyond the Wall that surrounds Claysoot–a structure that no one can cross and survive.

Climbing the Wall is suicide, but what comes after the Heist could be worse. Should he sit back and wait to be taken–or risk everything on the hope of the other side? 

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So what do you think of these covers?

Cover Art Friday: Days of Blood & Starlight Cover Reveal!

Happy Friday, Muses!

I'm sure this has already been circulating in the blog world for a few days now, but since I am a HUGE fan of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, I had to create a quick post to show off the new US Cover Art for its sequel, Days of Blood & Starlight! And here it is:


Isn't it beautiful??!!! November can't come quick enough!!!! If you haven't heard of this series, then you seriously need to get on the bandwagon. For more information on the first novel, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, go HERE.

I will be sure to post more cover art for other editions of this novel as they are available. I can't wait to see what the UK Cover Art will look like.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of this series or is this your first exposure?

Cover Art Friday: Stormdancer (The Lotus War, #1) by: Jay Kristoff

Happy Friday, my Muses!

As everyone heads out to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend, I wanted to post the new cover art for debut author Jay Kristoff's Stormdancer (The Lotus War, #1). It's been circulating around the blog world for a few days now, but I couldn't help but post it here as well. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and the story sounds so unique and fresh, described as a Japanese steampunk novel-- I'd probably do some illegal things to get my hands on an ARC! But as they say, all good things come to those who are patient... Stormdancer hits bookshelves on September 18th, this fall. What do you think?

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A DYING LAND
The Shima Imperium is verging on the brink of environmental collapse; decimated by clockwork industrialization and the machine-worshippers of the Lotus Guild. The skies are red as blood, land choked with toxic pollution, wildlife ravaged by mass extinctions.

AN IMPOSSIBLE QUEST
The hunters of the imperial court are charged by their Shōgun to capture a thunder tiger—a legendary beast, half-eagle, half-tiger. But any fool knows thunder tigers have been extinct for more than a century, and the price of failing the Shōgun is death.

A SIXTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL
Yukiko is a child of the Fox clan, possessed of a hidden gift that would see her executed by the Lotus Guild. Accompanying her father on the Shōgun’s hunt, she finds herself stranded: a young woman alone in Shima’s last wilderness, with only a furious, crippled thunder tiger for company. Even though she can hear his thoughts, even though she saved his life, all she knows for certain is he’d rather see her dead than help her.

But together, the pair will form an indomitable friendship, and rise to challenge the might of an empire.

Cover Art Friday: Secret Sins & Emerald City Giveaway Winner!

Happy Friday, my Muses!

As many of you may already know, my first love has always been romance novels. One of my favorite erotic romance authors is Lora Leigh! If you like your romances smoldering, and your male heroes alphas, then you need to get on the Lora Leigh bandwagon! She has several different series out and I guarantee that she has a little something for everybody. She is known for her Breed Series, which is about men that have been genetically altered with animal DNA (lion, cougar, wolf, etc.) and the women who fall in love with them. If you like military/soldier romances, then you need to check out her Elite Ops Series.

Recently, Lora has started a new series called The Callahan's, about 3 outcast brothers. You can click on the following titles to see their cover art. The first 2 books, Midnight Sins (#1) and Deadly Sins (#2) have already been released. Here is the cover for Secret Sins, book 3 in the Callahan's series.

I actually like this cover even though I think Midnight Sins is the best out of the three. I personally dislike the Deadly Sins cover...I have more of an issue with the model they chose than the actual design. I just don't find the male model attractive on that cover. Anyway, Secret Sins hits bookshelves this fall, November 27th.

One last bit of news...I have heard through the grape vine that Lora Leigh is working on a Nauti Girls series. If you are a Lora Leigh fan, then you will remember her very popular Nauti Boys series. The first in this new series is called Nauti Temptress with a tentative release date of November 6th. No cover art has been released yet, so once I get some more information, I will share it with everyone! But in the meantime, if you haven't read Lora's Nauti Boy series, start with the first one, called Nauti Boy. The male model on the front cover has always reminded me of Mark Wahlberg... For more information about Lora Leigh and for a complete list of her series, check out her website at loraleigh.com.

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EMERALD CITY E-BOOK (PDF FORMAT) GIVEAWAY WINNER!

And I bring good tidings. I first want to thank everyone who participated in the Emerald City Giveaway and for all of those who emailed me and left positive feedback about the Q&A with author Alicia K. Leppert. She really is a warm person and her novel Emerald City is a unique contribution to the YA paranormal romance genre. So even if you didn't win, I hope you still go out and buy a copy of Emerald City!

Now for the winner. And that person is....

BECKY @ Preppy Premed

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your e-book (pdf format) copy of Emerald City! Feel free to leave a message in the comment section once you are finished reading it so you can share your thoughts :)

Have a great weekend!

Cover Art Friday: Ann Aguirre's Outpost & The Tribe: Season 1, Part 2

Hi my lovelies!

So it's been awhile since I actually did a "Cover Art Friday" and I'm kind of excited about these 2 new cover reveals. One is for a book and the other is for a tv series. Check it out below!

Since I also noticed that I haven't done a movie review in awhile, tomorrow I will be posting "Gary's Quick Picks", 3 movie recommendations by my previous Guest Blogger, Gary Dion. So get the popcorn ready!

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OUTPOST (Razorland, #2), Sequel to Enclave

Here it is, Enclave fans! The cover art for Outpost, book 2 in Ann Aguirre's bestselling dystopian, post-apocalyptic series! I have been checking her website almost daily, waiting to get a glimpse of the artwork. If you've been following my blog, then you know I dedicated a post awhile back on books that started out with one cover, but later was changed. Enclave was originally titled Razorland and had a completely different cover which I actually preferred. You can view it and read my thoughts about it HERE.

So what do you guys think about Outpost's cover art? While I am not sure if this is the final look, I will say I am a tad bit disappointed. I wasn't a huge fan of Enclave's cover and this one looks...well, juvenile. Neither showcases the intensity of this series. I haven't read Outpost yet, but if it is anything like Enclave, Ann Aguirre will be back on the NY Times Bestseller list with a quickness.

Outpost hits bookshelves on September 4th! Pre-order HERE!

THE TRIBE: Season One, Part 2 DVD Boxset

So back in January, I posted the exciting news that one of my favorite television series, called The Tribe, was finally being put out on dvd in the US! Since the show was made in New Zealand and only put out on dvd overseas, it was hard for us US fans to get our hands on the beloved episodes we remembered so fondly that used to play on the Disney channel. You can read more about the show and my earlier thoughts HERE.

Anyway, so in March, The Tribe, Season 1, Part 1 was finally released on dvd. Since each season ran for over 50 episodes, I guess Shout! Factory decided they could make more money by splitting the seasons in half. This worried me because my fear was that part 1 would get released and then it would be forgotten, and I would be stuck with half a season on dvd. But thank the gods, Season 2, Part 2 will be out on dvd June 12th! You can pre-order your copy HERE! If you haven't figured it out already, the artwork to the left is the official dvd cover for part 2. I like this cover much better then part 1. Again, you can see the artwork for part 1 HERE. Even though they look similar in design, my beef with part 1's cover is how distorted Bray's face looked up top. It totally didn't look like Bray! Season 1 Part 2's cover, however, showcases Lexx, Tai-san, and Ebony and all three are looking good. So I am not sure what happened with the photo they used for Bray in cover 1.

Even though I am happier with part 2's artwork, nothing can beat the UK's boxset dvd cover that was released years ago. Check it out on the right. I'm not sure what it is about overseas boxsets, but I tend to generally like thier artwork more then ours. It's not always the case, but I've even found myself liking foreign cover art for books more than their US editions, such as Jana Oliver's Demon Trappers Series.


So what do you think??? Leave comments on your thoughts! Are any of you Enclave or The Tribe fans?

The Muses Circle Reaches 100 Members!

Good morning my beautiful Muses!

I know Fridays are normally reserved for book & movie cover art (last Friday I introduced a new Guest Blogger), but you can imagine my surprise when I jumped on my blog this morning and noticed that The Muses Circle had reached 100 members! It's so hard to believe that only a couple of months ago, I had less then 10 followers and my blog looked like a ghost town. I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone for their patience, support, feedback, and help. I decided to dedicate the rest of this post to updating everyone on what you can expect to see soon on The Muses Circle, such as giveaways, author interviews, recommendations, and more guest bloggers.

GIVEAWAYS

In the past couple of months, I have learned so much by just checking out other people's blogs. I noticed that giveaways are a big part of a blogger's world-- it not only helps to attract more traffic but also is a nice way to reward your followers. I have yet to do a giveaway, but I plan to start as early as next week. My giveaways will not only be for new releases but I was thinking about doing giveaways for older releases from my own library. I am not am impulse buyer, but I do have quite a few books sitting on my shelf that are BRAND NEW that I have looked back on and thought to myself, "There is no way I am going to read this book." So rather then try to sell or donate them, offering them in a giveaway might be a fun way to make room on my bookshelves.

AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

I love communicating with authors. I recently read and reviewed JC Andrijeski's Rook: Allie's War #1. JC is so awesome that she agreed to do an Author Q & A and a Giveaway. Hopefully that will be posted in the next couple of weeks. I also have been in contact with a few other authors that are willing to do interviews, I just have to work with their schedules.

GUEST BLOGGERS & RECOMMENDATIONS

My Guest Blogger posts have been working out great! I like to post at least 2 reviews a week (a book and movie review) but sometimes I am in the middle of reading a book or haven't had the chance to watch a movie that I want to review. That is where my Guest Bloggers come in. My friends and colleagues have been wonderful with submitting reviews, recommendations, etc. So when I myself don't have a review ready to post, I will usually turn to one of my Guest Bloggers to help with a post.

This coming week I will be introducing everyone to my next Guest Blogger, Brian Warriner, followed by his book/movie comparison & analysis of Prayers for Bobby. My "Picks of the Week" posts are like my recommendations for everyone but I hope to get more of my Guest Bloggers to recommend books and movies as well.

In closing, I just want to thank everyone again for being a part of The Muses Circle. This blog has been such a therapeutic, positive, fun, (and can sometimes be frustrating because it takes a lot to keep up with everything!) experience and I couldn't have done it without my Muses! So just hang in there a little bit more and I promise to start sharing some goodies with you!

Happy Friday!

Cover Art Friday: Which Cover Is Better?

Happy Friday! Today's cover art post is going to be a little different. We all know that the artwork & design of books and movies are extremely important. I really hate to admit it, but I'd be lying if I said I strictly buy books & movies on their summaries alone. When you walk through Barnes & Noble, your eyes naturally gravitate toward what you personally find aesthetically pleasing. It's no different when you are online shopping, no matter what you are buying.

Today's post is dedicated to the book cover art that never made it. What I mean is, there are some novels that we know today that either had a different title or different cover art but was later changed before hitting bookshelves. The two books below had covers that I feel were more aesthetically appealing then what ended up making the final cut.

So I want everyone to do a little voting by leaving a comment on this post. Which cover treatment do you like better for each of these books?

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Ann Aguirre's highly popular, edgy, post-apocalyptic YA novel, Enclave (on the right) was originally titled "Razorland" and featured the 2 main characters, Fade and Duece on the front cover. Sadly, the title was changed as well as the cover. Which do you like better, the "Razorland" cover with the 2 main characters on the front, or the final cover treatment?

Charles de Lint writes some pretty interesting fantasy novels. I was really excited about The Painted Boy, which the cover to the left caught my eye immediately when I was on the Barnes & Noble website. It did say on the cover, "Cover Not Final", but based on the summary of the book, this cover would have been a PERFECT fit since it's about an Asian boy that has a dragon tattoo on his back that eventually comes to life. But no, instead, the final cover treatment we are stuck with is the one to the right. It's not horrible, but the other cover artwork is way more striking in my opinion. What do you think?